Ichigo Has A Goddamn Hostel Room!
by redcheese
Summary: Isshin randomly decides that Ichigo has to complete a test of manhood and butts him out of the house to fend for himself. Wherever Ichigo goes, Rukia has to go. So, uh, where will they both go? [COMPLETE]
1. The Forceful Flight of The Ichigo

**Ichigo has a goddamn hostel room!**

**My first bleach fanfic! Expected to be about 7 chapters+ long, so happy following. r&r D**

**Disclaimer: lalala bleach is NOT minezors. jeez. get it already.******

Chapter 1# The Forceful Flight of the Ichigo (& Rukia)

Ichigo came back from a rather refreshing battle with a Hollow to be met with his depraved dad doing something, well, depraved. He had taken out all of the little clothes that Ichigo possessed (he was NOT vain) and packed them into a bag, and dumped it all unceremoniously into the living room (the floorboards were still scorched from that tribal dance Isshin had a few days ago to welcome Ichigo's new computer).

'...WHAT THE HELL?'

Isshin looked up from the mayhem he had formulated and beamed, resembling a rather overgrown be-stubbled baby.

'Hello my son! After consulting Masaki, I have come to the conclusion that you are ready to undergo the greatest test of manhood!'

'You will be sent out of the house for a period of time that is not to be specified to fend for yourself! You can go anywhere, you can seek help from friends and acquaintences, but no help from the family will be given! This is your time, Ichigo!'

Ichigo couldn't say anything. I wouldn't blame him. You shouldn't too.  
He figured that his dunghead of a dad thought he had given him some sort of treat. Ichigo's eyebrow twitched.

'...what if I refuse?'

'Ah, if you refuse, you will be subjected forcefully to an old Kurosaki tradition! It involves, my son, the strapping down of the being and the tying of heated metal wires around the p-'

'OKAY, OKAY, I'M GOING!!'  
With that, Ichigo hefted the bag and got the hell out of the house for the sake of the sanity and well being of his nether regions.

---

Rukia, having discovered that Ichigo's cupboard was completely devoid of clothing, had scooted down to the front door to find out what in the name of all that is cute was going on, and had almost smacked face first into Ichigo.

'My dad just...booted me out.'

'...What?'

'...Yeah.'

'...It technically means that I'm booted out too, right?'

'...Yep.'

'...Why do I have to be tied, of all people, to _**you**_?!'

'...Well. Misery loves company, eh.'

'...DIE, YOU!'

'I'd rather not, you'd be able to follow me there.'

After Rukia had retrieved all her belongings, Ichigo quickly decided that it would not be feasible to camp at that perverted shopkeeper's place, with oddballs such as Tessai and Urahara himself floating around. Ishida's place was just as bad, with his creepy father. And Chad...

Ichigo didn't know where Chad stayed. He asked Rukia.

She didn't know either.

They sat at the pavement, just out of sight from Ichigo's house. Ichigo started muttering darkly under his breath, and Rukia caught random foreboding words like 'kill', 'guillotine' and 'death'. She thought he looked rather endearing, all pissed-off and moody like that, but she caught herself just in time.

Bad Rukia.

'So, uh, any ideas, Mister Kurosaki?'

'I was thinking...you remember Keigo, right? He stays in the hostel, and he told me once that there were quite a few spare rooms.'

Rukia wrinkled her nose. Keigo was really easy to convince (-insert a Rukia sparkle here-), but something was just wrong about asking Keigo. She couldn't really put her finger on what, though.

Ichigo watched her. He thought she looked rather endearing, all broody and thoughtful like that, but he caught himself just in time.

Bad Ichigo.

Rukia glared. 'Stop looking at me like that. Keigo's nosey.'

Ichigo blinked and shook his head to clear any unthinkable thoughts.

'I'll just ask him for a room for myself, and you can sneak in through the window and sleep in the closet again.'

Rukia glowered at him, realizing that THIS was exactly what she had wanted to put her finger on.

THE CLOSET.

'Ichigo, I'm sick of sleeping in the closet.'

'Well, start being sick of _being sick of sleeping in the closet.'__  
_  
'Why don't YOU try sleeping in the closet for a change?!'

'Why don't YOU try being SO DAMN TALL for a change!!!'

Rukia sulked. She had lost, and she didn't like losing. Then, she came up with a bright idea.

'Why don't we ask Urahara whether we can swap bodies or something. You can use my gigai, and I can use your body! I mean, your body's like a gigai in the first place.'

She looked up to meet Ichigo's disbelieving gaze.

Ichigo shook his head painfully. Was that a...blush she detected?

Rukia grinned back at him, and nodded firmly.

Ichigo ground his teeth. 'Okay, just watch me for a second.'

Rukia watched him.

He looked her up and down purposefully for 5 long seconds, and then looked down at his own body for 5 long seconds.

Then, he stared at her incredulously, and started making huge flamboyant circular gestures with his arms while a really bright red blush inched its way slowly up his face.

Rukia got it.

'OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. Er. Forget it.'

'You said it.'

They stared blankly at each other, two red tomato-ish faces.

Then, they picked up the other's bag of things, muttered 'shit' simultaneously and swapped bags.

There was this really awkward moment of silence.

And then...

Rukia broke the tension by kicking him and yelling, 'RACE YOU TO SCHOOL!!', and Ichigo helped snap tension's resilient arms and legs by racing her.

Of course, he let Rukia win.

**_to be continuedz._**_  
_  
_HEH. That was retarded. My first shot at a 7 chapter fic. I'm not that good with writing commitment, see. So, uh, next chapter should be up soon. I get bored of lessons easily. __  
__Kon's currently on holiday with Mayuri. Hehehee.__  
_  
D


	2. Jealous Mattresses

**Chapter 2: Jealous Mattresses**

**_This chapter shall be rather long. I don't feel like doing my homework, so there. (: 2000+ words. WOOHOOOO. I am INSAAANE._**

**Disclaimer: i do not ownzors bleach.******

When they both neared school (Rukia in the lead), Ichigo spotted Keigo turning the corner. Shoving Rukia unceremoniously behind a random tree, he grinned at Keigo.

'Ichigoo, did I just see you shove the beautiful transfer student, Kuchiki-san, behind that tree over there?'

'...no.'

'Ah, it must be my overactive imagination. Oh, how I pine for that vision of a goddess! Anyway, what are you doing here? Didn't school end about an hour ago?'

Ichigo thanked whatever god was there for Keigo's lack of a brain.

'Uh, my stupid dad kicked me out of the house for absolutely no goddamn reason. D'you think you'd be able to get me a room at the hostel?'

Keigo sighed sympathetically (or maybe empathetically). He patted Ichigo gravely on the shoulder.

'I will help you get a room here, my friend. Do not fear, Ichigo, Keigo is here!'

In the end, Ichigo died because of an overdose of corniness.

Just kidding.

Anyway, Keigo took Ichigo's arm (Ichigo visibly cringed) and insisted on escorting him to the principal's office, while Rukia followed, taking cover behind random dustbins and bushes.

---

Somehow, Keigo managed to persuade the partially senile principal to let Ichigo stay in one of the rooms for absolutely nothing. Even Ichigo was impressed, and Rukia even more so. Keigo didn't even need to use any sparkles.

Ichigo suspected that Keigo had bribed the principal with a lolly, or something.

Well, he WAS getting a room for free, after all. Who was he to complain?

---

'This is the boys only section of the hostel. The girl's dorm is two blocks away, and don't let me catch you anywhere near that. Lights out after 11pm, no girls after 5pm, no drinks, and laundry day is every 3 days.' The hostel caretaker glared at him, apparently under the impression that this particular new roomer was a hooligan.

Ichigo wondered why the caretaker had taken the trouble of informing him where the girl's dorm was if he didn't want him anywhere near it.

Damn the hair, he mused.

He told the caretaker (Mr Otaka) that he knew the way, and the keys changed hands. Ichigo didn't miss the suspicious look on Mr Otaka's face.

'My office's in the next block. If I catch you breaking any rules...'

Ichigo stared after him. Stereotyping bastard.

The key was pretty big. And pretty dusty too. Ichigo guessed that the hostel was short of roomers. The light blue card attached to the key read '17' in big, black numbers. Handwritten, apparently.

He found the room with ease, familiarizing himself with the surroundings at the same time.

The room was rather small. Of course it would be small, Ichigo reasoned to himself, he wasn't supposed to be sharing it with Rukia. He dumped his bag on the floor, and surveyed his new 'home' (he kind of hated Isshin right now).

The single bed was (also) blue, with a rather fluffy looking pillow. There was a table and a chair, which he decided that he'd use to eat and write. The bathroom looked decent. At least the bathtub looked clean.

The furniture was sparse. There was a small chest of drawers, a little cooking area, but it was good enough for Ichigo. He was a male, after all, and he didn't require whimsical things like _CHAPPY DESIGN TOILET PAPER_. That was going to wipe your goddamn ass, who needed freaking bunnies on it?

He couldn't help but smile.

He locked the door, stuffed the key under the sheets and climbed out of the window.

---

'Rukia! ...Where the hell are you, you fugly-rabbit-loving fiend?

He peered around the tree which he had shoved her behind not so long ago. If she was lost, he was going to go back to his room and take a lovely hot shower before he went looking for her.

Ichigo scratched the back of his head, turned to leave, and he immediately bumped into a small, angry creature.

'Do you realize how long I've been hanging around here, huh?'

He shrugged sheepishly. He would NOT apologize. Fine, it _was _his fault, but he would NOT apologize to that little brat. She looked rather endearing when she was pissed, anyway. Not that he would dare think that, of course.

'Stuff you. Did you get a room?'

'Yep. It's in the boy's dorm, so you had better be careful.'

'Yes, dandelion.'

'Don't call me that, midget!'

'Don't call ME that!'

'OW! DON'T ELBOW ME THERE, IT HURTS, YOU KNOW?'

'To make you hurt WAS the whole point, dumbass.'

They would have continued bickering if not for the appearance of a girl.

'Hello, Kurosaki-kun!'

Ichigo furrowed his brows. She looked familiar...he couldn't really put his finger on her identity.

Rukia stepped on his foot discreetly. 'She's in our class, damn you. Sato Ayumi.' She smiled dazzlingly. 'Good afternoon, Sato-san! It's a lovely day, isn't it.'

Ayumi glared at Rukia intently for a few seconds, and turned her gaze back to Ichigo.

Ichigo shrugged sheepishly (again). 'Uh, hi, Sato.'

Ayumi giggled. 'Kurosaki-kun, are you staying in the hostels?'

Ichigo didn't really know what to say to her, especially since he was being distracted by the rather irate presence beside him.

'Er, yeah, I am. Are you staying in the hostels too?'

Ayumi giggled again. 'Maybe I'll visit your room to say hi one day! You stay in room 17, right?'

Ichigo nodded, rather surprised that she knew his exact location. He felt as if he was under surveillance.

'I'm just staying two blocks away! I'll see you in class tomorrow!' She jangled her keys, showing a large black number 68 on a pale pink tag.

He blinked. That was weird. Besides, he rarely talked to her.

'So, uh, see you.'

'Bye bye, Kurosaki-kun!'

With that, she flounced off, blonde hair in an elaborate french braid swishing merrily.

Ichigo, wondering what that was all about, turned to Rukia. 'We should go. It's about...' He checked his watch. 'Four, and we need to unpack.' It was then did he notice Rukia's tightlipped expression.

'Rukia?'

'...What?'

'Spit it out.'

Rukia looked at him for a while. 'I don't like her.'

'...W-why?'

'Oh, so you like her, huh.'

'...No! Why the sudden attack?'

'Men. They only go for looks, don't they. Never thought that you'd be one of them.'

Ichigo thought this particular outburst of Rukia's was very, very random. At least he could cope with her random sprees of chappy fan-girling. Rukia all narrow-eyed and pms-ey was not a good Rukia, while an estatic Rukia was a much happier Rukia. And of course a much cuter Rukia. But Ichigo'd never think that, oh no!

'...Why the sudden change of mood?'

Rukia shrugged, but kept walking. The pace of her steps increased rapidly.

'...Is everything all right up there?'

Rukia stopped abruptly, causing Ichigo to almost trip over.

'Do you think Sato's pretty?'

'...WHATFUCK?'

Rukia eyed him. Ichigo was completely overwhelmed. First the moodiness, then random accusations of him being a male (which he was, thank you) and now this...this...beauty pageant sort of question. She was completely bonkers. Sato was relatively pleasant to the eyes, anyway. Her eyes were, well, large, and she wasn't acne ridden. At least she wasn't bald.

'I suppose she's...rather okay looking.'

'Okay looking? That's it?'

'...Fine, she's quite pretty. So?'

Rukia stared at him. Her eyes narrowed even more, while his eyes just got wider in perplexion. As he said just now, WADFUCK?

With that, she turned on her heel and strode off, shouldering her backpack, and Ichigo didn't know what to do but catch up.

She was definitely PMSing. Or something.

---

'So, this is my window. See, the one with the paint that's flaking off.'

Silence ensued. 

Rukia had maintained a moody silence throughout their mission to get to the back of the boy's dorms without being seen. So far, the mission had been successful, so Ichigo decided to let sleeping Rukias lie. Or rather, angry Rukias be.

He, helpless about what to do, demonstrated how to ease the window open and she leaped in promptly without a word.

Girls, Ichigo thought with gritted teeth. Rukia had made it a point to put her whole weight on his big toe as she pushed off from the ground. She was obviously angry, but about what, he couldn't fathom.

Fine, Sato DID ignore her completely, but the Rukia he knew wasn't so overly petty. He thought she did look rather...sad. He did feel like patting her head, but he doubted that the Rukia right now would permit him to.

Ichigo let the matter go, and fitted himself through the window after her. He latched it and drew the (blue) curtains shut.

---

'Bathroom, cooking area, writing table, chair, drawers for random clothes. You can use the chair for your work, I'll use my bed. I'll buy noodles or something, we'll work that out later.'

'Mmhm.'

Well, at least she was communicating with him. Vaguely.

'You can put your stuff under my bed, and here's an extra bedsheet for the closet you're going to sle-'

HEY.

Ichigo stared at the chest of drawers. Rukia, getting it, stared at it too.

Their gazes shifted simultaneously to the tiny blue bed. Then, they swiveled around to stare at each other.

'HOLY SHIT.'

---

Ichigo needed a noose. Or some rope. Or thread. Anything.

Rukia perched herself on the chair.

'...I don't suppose I could sleep in the bathtub. I'm too tall.'

Rukia scrutinized him. It was nice of him not to suggest that SHE should sleep in the bathtub.  
She shouldn't have been angry at him just now. It wasn't really his fault that Sato...well.

Stupid Sato.

Ichigo pointed at the table. 'That's not really mattress material, is it.'

She scrunched up her nose at him. 'No way hoo say.'

_Hey, that nose scrunching thing is kinda c-NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.__  
_  
Ichigo coughed, kicking himself inwardly.

'The bed would obviously be inappropriate.'

'Why?'

'OH. Whoops, slipped my mind.'

'...you're so stupid sometimes, you know that?'

'NO I'M NOT.'

'Ow, ow. Okay. You're not stupid. Happy?'

'Yep.'

'...you don't suppose I could go ask our paranoid caretaker, Mr Otaka, for an extra mattress.'

'Why not?'

Ichigo sighed. He was butt-tired of seeing that pinched up old fogey's face.

_But all for Rukia, no? ___

Ichigo hit himself mentally. Goddamn conscience. NO. AWAY WITH YOU, FOUL BEAST.

'Stay here, okay? You can shower or something, but keep it quiet.'

'...Orh.'

He was about to open the door, but he remembered something.

'No chappy radio station. NO.'

'...WHYYYY? You can say that you became a fan of chappy!'

'...NO. Look, if you don't listen to it and do your freaking homework, I'll give you two bucks. Set?

'Four.'

'Two.'

'FOUR.'

Rukia reached for her accursed radio, fingers waggling evilly.

'...Four it is.'

---

Ichigo returned about twenty minutes later, empty handed and scowling.

'No mattress?'

'...Nope.'

'Shit. What exactly did you say to him?'

Ichigo's eyebrow twitched.

_He eased the blue door that read 'CARETAKER' in foreboding letters gingerly.__  
_  
_'Uh...Mr Otaka?' __  
_  
_'Yes, Kurosaki. Do you need help with heating up any sort of food item?'__  
_  
_'...Whatfu-I meant, no, thank you.'__  
_  
_'So, what do you want?'__  
_  
_'I was wondering if I could borrow an extra mattress.'__  
_  
_'Hmm. Why, may I ask?'__  
_  
_'Huh?'__  
_  
_'Mattresses are expensive nowadays. Your reason?'__  
_  
_Ichigo racked his brains.__  
_  
_'...Uh, I roll off the bed while I'm sleeping at night. Nightmares.'__  
_  
_Mr Osaka's whole face twitched.__  
_  
Rukia was confused.

'But that was a perfectly good reason! Why didn't he give it to you?'

Ichigo sighed. He had decided not to tell Rukia about the fifteen minute lecture that Mr Otaka had given him about the dangers of premarital sex. Things you didn't know couldn't hurt.

Much.

Except Hollows.

Rukia sighed, too.

Suddenly, a very bright idea hit her like a half baked thunderbolt.

'Why don't you go back to your house to get YOUR mattress!'

Ichigo bit his lip. It _was _a good idea.

'Come onnnnn!'

He gave in. Why did he always give in to her, huh? His four bucks he had given to her to stop her from listening to that asshole Chappy radio station created by PERVERTS (definitely Urahara, he thought) was probably, no, definitely, going to be blown on MORE CHAPPY THINGS.

Oh how he hated that little white rabbit. From the moment he saw it, he had come to the conclusion that a good rabbit was a stewed, fried, BBQed one. A generally dead one, that is.

Well, Rukia going all giggly did look rather ad-NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO BAD ICHIGO BAD BASHING ICHIGO.

Phew, that was close, he thought.

Ichigo wondered whether Urahara stocked conscience poison.

---

They had sneaked out of the freaking hostel freaking immediately after he freaking agreed.

Well. Even if Rukia hadn't suggested it, he would have tried to find some decent soft spot for Rukia to sleep on. He probably would give her the bed and sleep on the floor. Though he wouldn't ever tell her that, would he.

Rukia, on the other hand, feared for the sanitary plight of her back. It was a BOY'S hostel room. Who knows what the previous roomer had DONE on the FLOOR?

He could have spat there, sat there, answered nature's urgent call there, he could have wan-

She decided not to think too much about it.

Ichigo, on the other hand, was fuming.

He was STEALING from his OWN. GODDAMN. HOUSE. There was something seriously wrong with this particular chapter of his life. It was TWISTED, FOUL, AND EVIL.

His BASTARD OF A FATHER!!1!!!!111!!

But his life was already retarded enough, so his father was just a normalcy.

Ichigo peered out from behind the postbox. Not that it helped shield him and Rukia, but you know. Psychological, really. He turned around to look for that little shinigami and ended up face to face with her.

_Why, _Rukia wondered while staring at Ichigo's eyebrow, _does this situation feel relatively nice?___

Ichigo kind of cut the mood by pinching her cheek. She took revenge by pulling his hair.  
They were about to wage a tickle-war when Ichigo remembered their mission. He checked his watch.

'...We've got about 10 minutes if you want to eat dinner peacefully.'

'...Oh.'

Since dinner was at stake, they forgoed their tickle-war for once.

---

Ichigo realized that having Isshin forget to remove his son's house key from his possession made matters really, really simple. He instructed Rukia to wait directly below his bedroom window, unlocked the front door and inched inside.

The house seemed pretty empty. He tip-toed up without much incident, and grabbed his mattress. And after second thoughts, he took his pillow and rolled it up with the linen. After throwing the lot out to Rukia, he saw a bag lying on the floor.

After stuffing random soap for himself and shampoo (for Rukia. He wondered why she invaded his thoughts so often nowa-BAD BADBAD NOOOOOO THAT IS NOT THE WAY, CONSCIENCE. NO. BAD. OUT.) that he snagged from the bathroom below. As he hitched the bag over his shoulder and sped out, he spied his wallet on the dining table. It was beautifully full.

Cool.

It was a little too much of a coincidence, but Ichigo thought, stuff that. He had other matters to attend to, like the matter of buying-dinner-and-making-it-back-to-the-freaking-hostel-and-smuggling-Rukia-safely-in-before-11-pm-and-that-sadist-caretaker-came-to-undoubtedly-check-on-him.

He yelled at Rukia to move her sorry ass, and both of them got the hell out of there.

Somewhere inside the house, Isshin grinned.

**to be continuedz**

That was a freaking ass long post. About, uh. approximately 2000 words. Be happy. By the way, I can't type THAT fast (though I'm pretty fast). The first chapter was written about two days ago, and I was too lazy to upload it. Same thing for the two other oneshots I uploaded a while ago. -hints for you to R&R them too-

THANK YOU REVIEWERS (((: -is very happy- 


	3. Don't You Love Me Anymore?

Hello all (:  
My math SA is overrr (for now) and i think i did terribly. but no matter, cause all of you fanfic-ers have been so nice and sending me mightly encouraging reviews, i shall write another chapter!  
I'm not a very committed person usually, but thanks to your support i shall see this fic to the very, very sweet end. i have it all planned out (hopefully i don't deviate and write some tragedy) and im sure all you ichiruki fans, including me, will squeal. i don't squeal, but not the point -beams- so, presenting chapter 3. The title is meant to be misleading. hehe.

**Ichigo Has A Goddamn Hostel Room!****  
****Chapter 3: Don't You Love Me Anymore?**

It was 10.24pm on that lovely Wednesday night, and they were officially screwed. He and Rukia had exactly 36 minutes and fifteen seconds to buy their dinner, drag all the shit that they had snagged from his house (he still hadn't gotten over the fact that he STOLE from his OWN HOUSE), sneak Rukia through the back window and get the hell inside his room by 11pm. Not to mention that he had to find a crevice of some sort to stuff Rukia into. Ichigo was very, very sure that their sadistic hostel caretaker, Mr Otaka, would barge in and make sure Ichigo didn't 'engage in any sort of pre-marital sexual activities'.

That asshole of caretaker.

Ichigo guessed that his depraved father wasn't that bad after all. But still, kicking him out of the house for some undefined 'manhood test' was just...brainless.

The orange haired Karakura High schoolboy sighed. All he needed was his lovely, warm, hostel bed.

Rukia, on the other hand, wanted something to eat.

'Ichigooo, I'm hungry.'

'...what do you want?'

'I don't know. I want...food!'

'That was extremely informative, Rukia.'

'I know!'

'...YOU WEREN'T SUPPOSED TO AGREE, ASSHOLE.'

'Don't call me asshole, asshole.'

'Why not? You're dumb.'

'Huh. Carrot boy.'

'Go to hell, retarded imp.'

'I can't go to hell, I'm already dead. Hah. TURNIP.'

'...Why turnip? My hair's orange the last time I checked, not red.'

'Oh. Okay...ORANGE TURNIP!'

Ichigo groaned.

Rukia enjoyed going random on him. He was so amusing when he got knocked off-course by her random insult and pointed out the flaw in her jibe. She didn't really understand why the seniors in his school targeted him because of his hair. She kind of liked the shade of orange. It made him look different.

She decided that orange was his colour.

As they plodded along the road to school at the unearthly hour of 10.30pm, Rukia let her mind wander. If Ichigo's hair was orange, it meant that he didn't have a single strand of black hair. She grinned, amused. And that was when she realized something rather disturbing.

If all of his hair was orange, that meant that his armp-

Rukia hiccoughed. She tried to smother her mouth with her hands, but the wilful slip of laughter escaped. Ichigo turned around, holding the roll of mattress and his pillow under his arm. His orange eyebrow was raised, his mouth half open.

The moment Rukia's mind registered 'orange' and 'eyebrow', she started giggling madly.

Ichigo was aghast.

'What the...'

Rukia's shoulder's shook even more madly as she laughed.

'What's so funny!?'

She shook her head helplessly and continued to laugh. Ichigo stood there with his pilfered (FROM HIS OWN HOUSE) mattress, resembling Da Vinci's _The Scream_, just that his mouth wasn't that wide open. It was kind of close, though.

When Rukia, at last, managed to calm herself, Ichigo peered at her, his brows furrowing even more. She half-smiled, afraid that she'd start laughing again.

'Just keep walking, baka.'

He nodded and made his legs start moving. He was in shock. Rukia's random outbursts of CHAPPY(!!) and the assortment of mood swings, he could cope with. Random fits of laughter? He figured she needed a doctor. Unfortunately, the only 'doctor' in Soul Society was that purple long fingered creep, Mayuri, so he figured she was better off without that freak. Ichigo didn't even know whether Mayuri was a 'he' or an 'it'.

He guessed that he didn't want to know.

What he DID want to know was, what in the name of Zaraki was she giggling about? Was some random hollow he couldn't see for some reason tickling her? Or...Ichigo's eyes widened. Did his pants have a hole of some sort? He checked, just in case.

Phew. Nope.

Then what the hell was she laughing so madly about? He didn't mind her laughing, as she was much better to be with happy than majorly pissed-off. But random bursts of mad laughter was just...scary. Come on, Zaraki randomly laughed madly, and he was FREAKING scary. He hoped Rukia didn't become like Zaraki, if not he couldn't dream of datin-

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. CONSCIENCE, he screamed inwardly, DO NOT DO THAT!

_Why not? You knowww you want to.__  
_  
No I don't, and you know it, Ichigo said to himself firmly. I do not like her in any way, and insert a big, fat, black full stop here.

_Well, if you say so.__  
_  
---

It was about 10.45pm when they reached an open food stall. It was a twenty-four hour shop selling all kinds of rice, so Ichigo figured they could have that.

'Yay! Food!'

Rukia was clearly estatic about supper.

Ichigo kind of was too, but he didn't bounce merrily around. He was too tall for that.

All right, all right, he'll confess. Actually, this stall wasn't his favourite. Rice got a wee bit boring after a while, but they'd have to make do with rice or today.

Ichigo ordered fried rice for both of them, while Rukia bounced enthusiastically on the balls of her feet.

He paid, and he checked his watch.

'HELL, WE'VE GOT FIVE FREAKING MINUTES LEFT!!!'

They grabbed their food and ran for their freaking lives.

---

Ichigo couldn't believe that they made it through the window of his dorm room in three goddamn minutes. The stall was, he swore, 3km away, and they had a hell lot of stuff on them at the same time. It was NOT possible. Physics clearly demonstrated that one could NOT run 1km in 1minute without shriveling up and dying.

Rukia said that their shunpo probably randomly fired up in between. She said stuff like that happened before to shinigami in their gigai.

'Really? It can?'

'Yes, Ichigo. It can.'

'...Well, I knew that.'

'Right!!!'

Well, bully for random shunpo. At least that bastard, Mr Otaka, hadn't arrived yet.

Rukia won the contest of who would shower first. She didn't WIN, actually. She had just grabbed the shampoo bag, ran into the shower and locked the door.

Even if she hadn't locked the door, Ichigo wouldn't have gone in anyway. He wasn't that kind of guy, of course. But he definitely wasn't gay.

Only after Rukia strolled out, all squeaky clean in Yuzu's checkered pyjamas and a towel wrapped around her hair, did Ichigo remember that the laundry people only gave him one measly blue towel.

...Shit.

After psycho-ing himself that there was NOTHING WRONG with using a towel that RUKIA HAD USED BEFORE (didn't work), he thwacked the towel on the wall once, and went to shower. The towel smelled rather good, though, and he wondered what kind of soap the laundry people used to wash it with. He turned the shower nozzle on.

'ARRRRRRGHHHH!!!!'

When Ichigo came out, he glowered at Rukia.

'Rukia...'

She was sitting on her new bed, with wet hair and her stupid matching pyjamas. 

'Yes?'

'...You used up all the hot water.'

'I did?'

'...Yep.'

She sprang up, and before he knew it, put her hand on his cheek.

'You're quite cold. I'm sorry. I'll try to save some for you next time,' she said, and offered him her blanket.

He pointed out that he already had his own, and grabbed the rice container, trying to ignore the oddly pleasant feeling rising in his stomach. He tried to concentrate on filling it instead.

Rukia started eating with gusto, and so did Ichigo. After a mouthful, she started digging around in the container with her fingers. Ichigo squinted at her. Rukia was in Curiousity mode today. She looked like a bunny.

_A cute bunny, actually._ This time, he didn't argue with his accursed conscience.

Rukia fished out a few round green peas.

'Why are there peas in the rice? Isn't it supposed to be _fried rice_.'

'...Fried rice has peas in it, Rukia.'

'Why?! The name doesn't say give any mention of _peas_. Ichigo, are you sure this is fried rice?'

'...Yes, Rukia. I'm sure.'

'No, you're not! I bet you bought the wrong one. I bet you bought pea-d rice!'

'...Peed rice? You're nuts!'

'I'm not! It's this pea! It's not supposed to be here!'

Ichigo, exasperated, sat down on the mattress next to her.

'You're supposed to eat it together, if not the rice alone will give you a sore throat or something scary like that.'

He reached around her shoulder and took the hand that had the offensive pea in it.

'If you don't like peas, you can give them to me, okay?'

Rukia turned to look at him. Her eyes widened when she realized how close he was. 'Okay.'

This was the part where Ichigo was supposed to let go of her hand and insult her about being scared of peas or something stupid like that , but he didn't. He just looked back at her.

'Uh...Rukia?'

'Yeah?'

'Nothing.'

They would have continued sitting like that for a very long time, her hand in his, almost nose to nose in an almost comfortable silence, if not for a very, very rude and loud knock on the door.

Ichigo fell backwards in shock, while Rukia (being more gifted in terms of natural instinct) shoved him off the mattress. He watched, his heart thumping, as she proceeded to push the mattress under the hostel's original bed. 

He passed her her packet of rice and watched her roll under the bed and safely out of sight.

Ichigo blinked. Um. What had just happened? Peas, holding hands, sitting down, what? His mind was amazingly blank. Scratching his head, Ichigo shuffled dazedly towards the door and tugged it open.

'Good evening, Kurosaki.'

ichigo nearly winced, but caught himself just in time.

'...Good evening, sir.'

Mr Otaka peered at him accusingly through thick reading glasses. The mad caretaker inhaled slowly.

'I smell fried rice.'

'...I'm having it now, sir.'

_NOSEY, INTERFERING PARANOID ASSHOLE.__  
_  
Of course Ichigo didn't say it out loud. He WAS a shinigami who had almost been cut into half before, but it didn't mean he was **stupid**.

'I see. It is an improvement that you have returned before curfew. I be checking in on you, so you had better be on your best behaviour.'

_Improvement? What the hell does that bastard mean by that?__  
_  
'I shall be going, Kurosaki.' Mr Otaka narrowed his eyes and leaned in. Ichigo stepped back.

'If there's anything fishy...I'll be right behind you. Is that clear?'

'...Y-yes.'

'A very good night to you, then.'

Ichigo closed the door. A bead of sweat made its leisurely way down his temple. He looked at the bed where Rukia was hiding under.

'...You can come out now.'

There was absolutely no response. Ichigo walked over to the bed, and peered under it.

A hand shot out like lightning and GRABBED HIS FREAKING NOSE.

'OWW, DAMN YOU, FREAKING LET GO OF ME!!'

'Oh, it's you.'

'...Just get out from there.'

Rukia crawled out. Ichigo moved to sit on his bed as he watched her drag the mattress out.

'So...what's up?'

Rukia cocked her head and looked at him for a second. She shook her head decisively as if to clear out random thoughts, and smiled.

'Nothing, really.'

---

Ichigo was glad that Rukia finished her food without further complaint of strange ingredients. The rice tasted just fine to him.

'Rukia, do you think I should put the chair under the doorknob just in case Otaka picks the lock?'

'Yep. It's dusty beneath the bed, anyway.' Rukia screwed up her face, and sneezed.

Ichigo couldn't help it. He grinned, and ruffled her hair. She peered up at him, and Ichigo decided that Rukia looked really, really tired. 

'Go sleep, dumbass. You look completely wiped out.'

'No, I yawwn don't.'

'Oh, yes you do. Go and sleep!'

'Noo!'

Ichigo gave her a tiny push, and she glared sleepily at him as she toppled gently towards the ground. He caught her by the shoulders just in time.

Stupid Rukia, he thought.

By the time he had managed to dust off her mattress and cover her with a blanket, she was fast asleep.

Ichigo carried a chair over to the door, and propped it under the doorknob. Stepping back to admire his handiwork, Ichigo decided that the chair wasn't enough.

He carried the table over and used it to block the door too. Before he shut off the lights, he looked at Rukia.

She was _smiling _in her sleep.

Stupid sleepy rabbit infatuated pea hating girl, he thought.

---

_He was walking with his mother along the river. ___

_'Oi Ichigo, over here, over here!'___

_Ichigo turned. Rukia was waving at him a distance away in a dress of Yuzu's. It was the off-shoulder variety, and a rather nice shade of turquoise. Her hair was buffeted by the slight breeze.___

_Masaki smiled, and nodded.___

_'Bye, mother.'___

_He waved back to Rukia, and jogged over to her.___

_As he reached her, he realized that her hair was starting to turn blonde. Rukia's eyes grew slightly smaller, and her mouth got wider and her lips turned a rather bright pink. Her hair grew and grew till it reached way below her shoulders and started twisting itself into a rather elaborate french braid.___

_Her dress started to turn baby pink, and before he knew it, he was staring at Sato Ayumi.___

_'Hello, Kurosaki-kun!' She giggled, and her giggle echoed off the walls creepily _(now, where did those black walls come from?). _He started to turn away from her, but he realized that his legs were secured by random manacles.__  
_  
_'Kurosaki-kun?' Sato walked closer to him, smiling in that eerily girlish way of hers. Her hot pink heels clicked on the ground, and her short skirt swished in a way that would have given Kon a nosebleed, but Ichigo started to feel a little scared. He heard little voices calling to him, but he couldn't catch what they were saying.__  
_  
_'Don't you...' She stopped about a few inches close to him, and they were almost nose to nose. Suddenly, she transformed into Mayuri's freaky bankai and rasped in the voice akin to the Devil, 'DON'T YOU LOVE ME ANYMORE?' __  
_  
Ichigo woke up.

'HOLY SHIT!!!1!!11!1'

When his vision cleared and he stopped shaking from pure terror, he saw Rukia right in front of him, hands on his shoulders.

'Ichigo, wake up!'

'...What the hell?!'

'You had a nightmare. Are you okay?'

'...I suppose so. What time is it?'

'Five forty. Don't worry, we've got two hours more. I got up earlier so that I could bathe, and then the hot water would come back by the time you're up.'

Ichigo looked at her. Her hair was dripping wet and he could smell the steam from the bathroom. He almost thought that she'd rushed out of the bathroom the moment he yelled, but nah. Ichigo never thought thoughts like that, never!

He ran a hand through his hair.

'Thanks, Rukia.'

'i didn't do it for you, Ichigo.'

He reached out to mess up her hair, but she dodged and messed _his _up first.

'A little slow, are you.'

'...I just woke up, damn you!'

'Excuses! You're just a dumbass.'

'Gah. Who cares about _you_. I'm going to take a shower.'

He rummaged in the chest of drawers for uniform, walked into the bathroom and shut the door.

Rukia sighed.

_'Who cares about _**_you,_**_' he said.___

_I hope you do.___

She was about to turn away when he surprised her somewhat by rushing out of the shower two seconds later and messing up her hair.

---

Heehee. Harmless fluff. I couldn't resist. This post was supposed to be about their school day, but i guess i kind of dragged it out. I'll upload the next chapter soon. Sorry about the random dragging out of the plot. I guess there'll definitely be more than 8 chapters, at the rate i'm going. R&R! i live on reviews ((:

By the way, 'Don't You Love Me Anymore' was just one random line taken from the horrible horror movie 1408. I was watching a movie with my friend, and that ad for that show played. My friend was damn scared. Thank goodness I covered my eyes. But I heard it, and yep. (:

;redcheese


	4. The Place Where All The Sand Goes

thanks RinUtari for telling me about the quotation marks (:. -.- i feel so retarded at the moment. i never really noticed, heh. anyway. my evil End Of Years are coming up in about 2 weeks, and i have some crappy project to do. so i _might _not be uploading any new chapters. if my fingers are really itching, then i shall. or alternatively upload some random oneshot. -sighs-

Well, no matter! I'm uploading chapter 4 now, aren't i. (:

**Ichigo Has A Goddamn Hostel Room!****  
****Chapter 4: The Place Where All The Sand Goes**

Ochi-sensei was ill, so the class had countless free blocks for the day. Keigo decided that everyone he knew should come to the computer lab to watch some rather _illegal _kinds of shows with him.

"IIIIICHIGOOO!'

"No."

"Huhhhh? I haven't even told you what I was going to say!"

"Let's just say it's just a 'No' in advance."

Ichigo and Rukia decided that they'd have to do the assignments that Ochi-sensei had bestowed upon them last week.

"Kurosaki-kun!"

"...Yes, Kuchiki-san?"

"Could you teach me how to do this question? Please?"

"...Sure."

Her formality irritated him somewhat. 'Ichigo' sounded so much nicer from her lips than 'Kurosaki-kun', he thought. And all those sparkles and curtseying...

His eyebrow twitched involuntarily.

"I'm done with my homework, Kurosaki-kun!"

"So have I, Ru-shit, I meant, Kuchiki-san."

Rukia almost laughed, but caught herself just in time.

_You laugh too much for his benefit._

---

Ichigo would not look at the whiteboard. There was something there that he didn't ever want to see, and it was making weird moaning noises.

Keigo had managed to use the class computer and the projection equipment to project his _illegal _type of movie on the whiteboard while the majority of the male population of the class drooled.

"KEIGO, SHUT IT OFF!"

"Awww, Ichigoo. I _knoww _you want to watch it."

"NO, I DON'T! TURN THE DAMN THING OFF!!"

"But Ichigoo, this particular one was really, really, good. The stars are all hot girls, and they end up in the bathroom doin-"

Ichigo decided that he didn't want to know what they were doing in the bathroom, and he also decided that Rukia shouldn't know, either. So, he grabbed her arm and they both hurtled out of the classroom like derailed trains.

He didn't stop till they had reached the roof.

"You carrot-head, why'd you drag me out?"

"...We weren't supposed to be watching the show."

"But Asano-san said that it was okay!!"

"...Keigo tells lies, Rukia."

"He does? But the starting of the movie was okay!"

"...It was?"

"Yes, it was! The girl looked injured, she was moaning so badly. Her friend was trying to give her CPR!"

"...She definitely was not injured, and that was not CPR either, Rukia. You can trust me on that."

"How'd you know that show was bad?!"

"The title of that particular show was: Bathroom Orgies. You still think that the show's okay?"

Rukia stared back at him, eyes like violet dinner plates.

Ichigo shook his head exasperatedly.

"I guess not."

Rukia blinked, the slightest bit of pink tinged her cheeks.

"So they were doing...that?"

"Yep."

"...Oh."

"Anything in particular that you'd like to say?"

"Nope."

She dug around in her backpack, and produced two very large sandwiches.

"Want one?"

"...Where the hell did you get that?!"

"Just a while ago. I went to the canteen and asked the lady whether I could have a sandwich because I lost my wallet and couldn't buy food. She gave me these."

It was Ichigo's turn to stare.

"What? I didn't steal, you know."

"I know that. I just have no freaking comment. Give me one."

"That's rude!"

"No it isn't! You already wanted to give one to me, so give it already!"

Rukia leaped up indignantly, clutching the sandwiches.

"Rude people don't get what they want, Ichigo."

"...DAMN YOU."

He chased her around the rooftop. Rukia dodged and ducked and back-flipped away, just like a true shinigami would do, even in a gigai. She didn't even let go of her sandwiches.

Ichigo saw her sidestep before she even tried it, and ran after her. His fingertips grazed her shoulder as she dodged his hand artfully.

'Hah, I touched you!"

"No you didn't," Rukia called over her shoulder. "It doesn't count. You have to catch me first!" She waved the sandwich over her head.

...Damn. She kept somersaulting and diving around, and Ichigo was getting a little tired already.

Hmm. Could he somersault too?

When Rukia turned around to taunt her pursuer, he was gone.

"What the..."

She turned back to her original facing and almost ran into him. She spun away and tried to scarper, but Ichigo grabbed her around the waist.

"You're not getting away, Rukia."

Something in his tone made her stop attempting to cause him bodily harm for randomly grabbing her like that.

"Ichigo?"

He looked down at Rukia. As she stared up at him, her heart hammered even more madly in her esophagus.

Ichigo's grip around her middle loosened.

But he didn't let go.

"Yeah?"

Their sandwiches lay on the ground, forgotten. She relaxed against him, and felt something warm, just _something _that she couldn't fathom, fill her insides.

"Nothing."

They stood like that for a while, until Rukia cut the mood by elbowing him, grabbing the sandwiches and running away. Ichigo snarled, and the chase begun again.

---

At the staircase, watching them, Sato's fists tightened.

---

PE was retarded. Ichigo couldn't think of another word for it.

Last week's lesson had been about goddamn _hopscotch. _He had made a complete fool out of himself, hopping on one leg, while Rukia was a complete natural.

Stupid little girl, he reasoned.

How could one look _graceful _while hopping on one leg, he could not comprehend.

This lesson was on dodgeball. Ichigo figured that the teacher was completely insane as he handed him a squishy bright orange ball. Rukia got one too, her face lighting up in glee.

_...Well, if Rukia enjoys it, you should try too.__  
_  
Ichigo felt like hurling the ball at himself. What the hell was wrong with him nowadays? Close contact with Rukia making his heart simulate a heart attack, bad, suggestive thoughts, and his evil conscience? It was definitely trauma or something, it had to be.

The 'hug', or whatever it was, felt strangely comforting, too. He somehow knew he should say something to Rukia, apologize, or at least _mention it _for some weird reason, so they could talk it out or something, but he couldn't. He shoved the matter to the back of his mind as he had did with the rest of the not so innocuous things that happened, and made his train of thought switch to PE.

Just in time to dodge the missile Rukia sent his way. It _just _missed his right ear.

"Daydreaming, are we?"

Ichigo scowled, and looked for a missile of his own. When he realized that he had one right in his hand, while Rukia had none, he grinned.

Rukia's eyes widened.

"Oh shit..."

Ichigo took aim, and hurled the ball at her. Not too hard enough to hurt, but hard enough to make it difficult dodge.

Rukia saw it coming and leapt gracefully out of the way, and grabbed the ball out of mid-air at the same time.

"I CAUGHT IT, YOU PANSY."

"I'M NOT A PANSY!!!"

"Oh yes you are!"

"IF I'M A PANSY, YOU'RE A MUSHROOM!"

"I am not a mushroom!"

"YOU SEE? THEN DON'T SAY I'M A PANSY!"

Rukia stuck out her tongue at him, and started laughing. Her laughter set Ichigo off, too, and he laughed.

And then, it came out of nowhere.

The orange blur hurtled out and hit Rukia right smack on forehead. The ball dropped to the ground with a dull _thunk_, and Rukia stumbled backwards, eyes wide open.

Ichigo grabbed her shoulders as she teetered unsteadily on both legs.

"Rukia!"

Her hand went to her forehead as Rukia's knees gave way, and she started to fall backwards. She braced herself for the impact of her shoulders hitting the ground, but she only dimly felt Ichigo's arms around her.

"Rukia!"

He saw a red swelling on her forehead as he brushed her hair away.

Their teacher ran towards them, shouting something he couldn't hear.

Her head was pounding _so _painfully. Shinigami never blacked out in these kinds of circumstances, and Rukia willed herself not to do so. She felt dizzy.

The last thing she saw was Ichigo's face, full of concern and maybe full of something else, and not to mention a shock of blonde hair whipping out of sight.

---

Ichigo sat on the table in his room, watching Rukia sleep.

Their teacher had been reasonably concerned, while the class babbled away.

_"What happened to Kuchiki! Kurosaki, say something!"__  
_  
_"...Someone threw a ball at her. It hit her forehead."__  
_  
_His hands felt clammy. The swelling on her forehead seemed terrible. Too terrible, actually.__  
_  
Ichigo couldn't believe that Karakura High didn't have an infirmary. What if someone broke a leg, or something?

_His teacher had wanted him to let him take charge of Kuchiki-san._

_"Kurosaki, I'll take her from here."_

_He had looked at his teacher full in the face._

_"No, Tagata-sensei."_

_"But why not?! She's passed out."_

_"I'll take care of her. My dad's a doctor, I know how to fix her."_

_Tagata had turned to him, and the man had appeared to see, and understand something, something that Ichigo couldn't feel and didn't know. Or didn't want to know._

Ichigo shut the door, and set Rukia's prone form gently down on his bed.

He stared at her for a while, his thoughts clouded. He dragged the chair over to the edge of the bed and sat down. Trying to stop his hands from shaking, he wet a small towel, sponged Rukia's swollen forehead and dressed her wound, not daring to tie the bandage too tight.

Her eyes were closed, but she was still breathing. Ichigo rubbed his eyes. Paranoia was bad for you.

But, it was only a soft squishy orange ball that hit her. Why the red swelling?

He tried to think back to what happened, but all he could see was Rukia stumbling, Rukia falling and Rukia passing out. Ichigo felt sick.

_Think_. His conscience spoke sense for the first time.

I'm trying, he admonished himself. There was something terribly wrong about the whole thing. He could tell. Rukia didn't randomly faint because a squishy soft orange ball from PE hit her on the head, she wasn't that weak, and Urahara's gigais didn't suck that much.

He touched her cheek gently with the tips of his fingers.

_The orange ball dropped to the ground with a dull thunk, and Rukia stumbled backwards, eyes wide open.__  
_  
_Rukia stumbled backwards, eyes wide open._ Ichigo gritted his teeth. _Who the fuck threw it?_

_Delete that scene_, his conscience yelled exasperatedly at him.

Something clicked. He zoomed in on it as much as his mind would allow him to without thinking of Rukia.

_The orange ball dropped to the ground with a dull _**_thunk_**_, an-__  
_  
The soft ones they were hurling at each other didn't make that kind of noise. That ball had to be at least 3kg, or a medicine ball, god dammit. And it was definitely on purpose.

One was able to tell a medicine ball apart from an airless PE ball. But who the hell...?

Ichigo didn't know.

He tore his fingertips away from her face (with great difficulty) and slapped himself inwardly. He could have stepped in front of the ball, or something. Better him than her, Rukia's gigai was even more human than his body was.

Why her? He reached out to brush her hair away from her face, but stopped himself. At least she wasn't sweating anymore, the washcloth had gotten rid of that. He resolved not to let himself do such stupid, confusing things anymore.

He put his head face down on the edge of the bed, next to hers, and shut his eyes.

Ichigo dozed off.

---

_The hollow was terrifying. It had large, orange eyes, and long blonde hair. Its whole body was pink, and it had long, foreboding talons. Which were pink, too, by the way.__  
_  
_Rukia gripped Shirayuki's white handle tightly. She was about to swing her sword when suddenly, Shirayuki changed into an orange ball that was so heavy that it weighed Rukia down, down into the ground so that her legs were stuck and she couldn't freaking MOVE.__  
_  
_The hollow moved closer, and it looked eerily human as it bent down so that she was face to face to it.__  
__"Kurosaki-kun is mine."__  
_  
Rukia woke up.

The first instinct was for her to bring out zher anpaktou, but she realized that she was in Ichigo's room. Her head hurt vaguely, and as she brought her hand up to touch her forehead, she felt bandages.

The next thing she saw as she turned to her left was Ichigo's bigass orange head.

She made some random noise of surprise that sounded like a nasal "Errh!", and he stirred. The moment he saw that she was awake, both of his arms twitched, as if they wanted to move or something, but they didn't.

Rukia kind of wished they did, but she pushed that thought far, far away where it couldn't come back and bite her on the nose.

"Feeling better, mushroom?"

"Mushroom? Oh, that stupid shit. I'm not a mushroom! Don't insult an injured person."

"Okay, you definitely are better."

"Mmhm."

"So...that ball was rather heavy, right."

"I guess..."

"It was thrown on purpose. Did you see anything in particular? A face, or something like that."

"Wait, let me think"

Rukia thought for a while. She remembered Ichigo's expression when she fell, and definitely something else apart from him.

Something...swishy. A flag? A piece of white cloth?

"I can recall something, but I can't really remember."

"Try to, okay? It was probably the person who threw that thing at you."

Rukia sat up, and arranged the blankets around her, like a cloak.

Ichigo sniggered.

"You look like a blue pastry, all wrapped up like that."

"No, I don't! At least I'm not an orange turnip!"

He smiled for a split second, but he hastily arranged his features into an irritated expression.

"You 're such an irritating bunion, no wonder someone wanted to throw something at you."

"What's a bunion?"

"Ah, not only is the bunion irritating, it's stupid, too."

"Hey!"

Ichigo gave Rukia's ear a gentle tug, and she scowled at him.

"Don't look so angry, you might burn something."

"Speak for yourself, you look like that all the time."

"...No I don't!"

"Yes you doo!"

"No I don't!"

"Yes you do! Ichigo has a scaaary face!"

He shifted in his chair so that his face was really, really close to hers. Really close.

"Is my face scary now?"

Rukia blinked. He was too close.

"...N-no."

"Good! Come on, let's get out of here. I'll treat you, or something."

Rukia was nonplussed. Ichigo was so random, it was almost cute. _Almost_.

"With you?"

"Yep."

"A-a-alone?" The word sounded so childish after she forced herself to say it.

But she had to know. She didn't know why, but she just did.

Ichigo grinned at her, and brushed her bandaged forehead with his thumb.

"'course."

---

They changed out of their uniform into normal clothes.

Ichigo wondered why girls took so long to pick their clothes. Well, he reasoned, they had almost twice as more clothing choices than guys, after all. Guys could only wear shirts (tank tops were just obscene), pants and shorts (which were worse). Ichigo cringed. Kilts? NO FREAKING WAY.

Girls, on the other hand, could wear tons of things.

Short skirts, shorts, pants, long skirts, blouses, spaghetti tops, dresses, off shouldered stuff. And when one added in the shoes, you got about 5000 more. Ichigo sighed. He was very relieved that he wasn't a girl.

Life would be very hard for him.

When Rukia finally managed to decide on something, she stepped out of the bathroom. It was turquoise. Ichigo furrowed his brows.

Turquoise...it looked vaguely familiar.

But no matter. The dress Rukia picked was nice, Ichigo hadn't seen it before. It was the off shoulder variety, and it flared out at the bottom. There were little white patterns embroided on the skirt.

"Where'd you get that? Yuzu doesn't have anything like that, and no one in the right mind would buy anything for you."

Rukia blushed, ignoring his insult.

"N-n-nii sama gave it to me."

"WHAT?"

"He said that if i wanted to go back to the real world, I had to, at least, get something nice to wear."

"It's...nice of him. I suppose."

"Nii-sama has good taste. He ordered it from a boot-ick. Or whatever he said it was."

"...A BOOT-ICK? WHAT THE HELL IS A BOOT-ICK? IT SOUNDS LIKE YOUR SHOE PUKED, OR SOMETHING!"

"He said it was a boot-ick!"

"Boot-ick. Boo...ick. OH."

Ichigo finally came to a realization.

"It's a boutique! B-O-U-T-I-Q-U-E. Not boot-ick!"

"No difference!!"

"YES, THERE IS! HOW CAN YOU WEAR SHOE BARF?"

Rukia pouted. Ichigo could _never _resist the Rukia Pout, no matter how many times he banged his head against the wall (not like he'd tried), so he gave in.

"...Okay fine. You can wear shoe barf or whatever, just make sure you wear something."

"You weren't supposed to say that!"

Ichigo grinned, and patted her head.

"You look...nic-okay."

"Huh?"

"You look okay. Clothed, you know." He desperately needed to change the topic. "I think you can remove the bandage. How's your head?"

"It feels better. Thanks for the bandage."

"No problem. Now you can throw the bandage away. Or you can eat it, just put it away."

"Why would I want to eat wound dressings?"

"...I didn't mean it like that. Never mind. Let's just get the hell out of here."

"Okay!"

Feigning ignorance was so fun, Rukia thought. She wondered if he actually believed that she was _that _stupid.

Ichigo didn't, just so you know.

He just accomodated her, and he knew she got the kick out of it.

He kind of _also_ got the kick out of seeing her all (fakely) innocent and sparkly, but never mind about that.

Ichigo unlocked the door and peered out.

The coast was oh-so-freaking clear, it looked almost beautiful. He made sure no one was hiding behind the corner, grabbed Rukia's hand and both of them ran like Zaraki was behind them with a cleaver.

---

"Ichigo, where are we going?"

"Not telling."

"Why?!"

"Because I don't feel like telling you, hah."

Rukia glowered as they walked side by side, close enough for her hand to occasionally brush his, but she tried her best to make sure that it didn't happen _that much_.

She recalled what Nii-sama said.

_"If you really want to go with him, I would not be able to detain you here by force. You have my permission, Rukia."__  
_  
She had thanked him profusely, but he wouldn't take any of it.

_"It is your choice, Rukia. I didn't make it for you, so I see no need for you to thank me."__  
_  
_"Yes, Nii-sama."__  
_  
_"Remember this. If he hurts you, the house of Kuchiki is always open to you. If he hurts you, I will make my own way there, and remove him. Do you understand?"__  
_  
_"Yes, Nii-sama."__  
_  
Nii-sama had not been difficult about her coming back to the real world after her supposed execution. She had been surprised, but Nii-sama was Nii-sama. Always with his own agendas, her brother was like that.

Ichigo, on the other hand, had decided that Byakuya wasn't such a bastard after all. However he wouldn't overlook the fact that he had once tried to kill Rukia, and not to mention Ichigo himself.

But when Aizen popped out randomly, Byakuya had taken Ichimaru's sword in his chest for his sister. Ichigo figured that he could forgive Byakuya if that was the case.

Good Byakuya.

"ICHIGO!"

"WHAT!"

"...Where exactly are you taking me?"

And the Rukia Pout was put in place artfully, with perfect timing. Ichigo groaned.

"Okay, okay, I'll tell you. But not directly, though. I'll give you a hint."

"Yay!"

"It's the place where all the sand goes!"

Rukia thought for a while. "...Sand..."

Her face fell.

"Are we going to a golf course?"

Ichigo groaned even more.

"NO! I'm not _that _rich and boring. I also wasn't aware that you were _that _dumb."

"...Hey!"

"Okay, I confess you're not that dumb. But still."

"Still what?"

"You know about the bunkers in golf courses, but you can't think of a place that has lots and lots of sand?!"

"...No!"

"Jeez, Rukia!"

Ichigo pointed to a large green sign in front of them. Rukia's eyes widened.

**'THE BEACH**'

"YOU BROUGHT ME TO THE BEACH?"

"...Yes. You are absolutely slow, did you know?"

"WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME!"

"...I said so earlier that I didn't feel like it."

"THANK YOU!"

She looked so delightful that Ichigo couldn't help but smile.

Dumb Rukia.

He pushed her forward gently. "Come on, if not we won't have any time left before the curfew invades our goddamn privacy."

---

The beach wasn't crowded at 3pm on a weekday, Rukia decided, as she sat on the beach with Ichigo.

"Can we come here more often?"

"Sure." He grinned. A happy Rukia made a happy Ichigo.

Rukia got up from the sand and dusted her behind of all the sand.

Thank Zaraki she didn't ask him to help her, Ichigo thought, or he'd get a nosebleed for sure.

The wind started to pick up, and Ichigo tucked his hands inside the pocket of his sweater as he watched Rukia win a game of tag with the surf, her shoes on the sand and the skirt of her dress hoisted up above her knees. She waved at him happily.

"Ichigo! It's fun!"

He grinned back at her, amused. She did look so carefree sometimes, and he wondered how she could possibly be more than a hundred years old with an expression like that.

Ichigo wondered how old she was when she died, but he realized that this was a subject that she probably would't ever warm to. He chucked the question to the depths of his brain, and hoped it wouldn't randomly leap out and bite his ass.

His conscience awoke. _Go for it. Just do something, if not you'd go mad. Go!_

She called to him again, and he watched her dance with the waves, the wind in turn dancing with her hair. She was laughing, and she yelled at him excitedly.

"Ichigo, there's a fish! There's a fish at the shore!"

He took his shoes off, rolled up his pants and splashed towards her.

"You doof, you made so much noise that you scared the fish away."

He didn't think about anything, he didn't want to think about how bad she'd kick his goddamn ass afterwards.

His conscience made sense today.

"Ichigo, you-"

Ichigo reached for her, stretched out his arms and hugged her. His mind felt miraculously blank, and all he could think about was _Rukia_. The waves splashed and frothed at his calves, and his heart pounded so violently he thought he would just die right now, at her feet. He waited for her to _kill him right freaking now _for daring to lay a finger on her, let alone a hug, and he would let her whack him silly for it.

He didn't expect her to hug him back, and when she did, he let out the breath that he had been holding in all along.

They stood like that for what felt like freaking _days_, as he buried his face in her hair and held her tighter still.

Rukia didn't say anything to him when they let go of each other at last, and neither did he. They just looked at each other, part confused, part _so fucking_ _happy_, with so many things to tell but so many reasons not to.

He was the first to break the silence.

"I'm sorry."

She smiled.

"It's perfectly fine, there's no reason to apologize."

"Yep. But still."

Rukia couldn't tell what kind of hug it was, and she oh so badly _had to know_, but she didn't know how ask him that without sounding stupid or completely pathetic. She decided to try a different question.

"Always friends, right?"

She realized that it came out all wrong, but as she reached out a hand to snatch the words back, she knew it was too late.

Ichigo's face twisted for a split second, and he looked down to hide it. Rukia saw it, she saw his whole body tense up, and she saw him bite his lip till it bled.

"I guess."

She saw him feel himself hurt.

As he checked his watch and told her that it was time to go home, she saw his hurt clearer than anything else in the world

As they walked back side by side, but not really together, back to the hostel, she saw him hurting even _fucking more._

And what she would give to make it right again, _absolutely anything_ in the world, she would. But the point was that she didn't know what she had to give. If she didn't know, how the hell could she give anything?

Ichigo tried to block her out, tried to block everything out, but he found that the more he ignored it, the harder it took ahold of him and shook him like a rag doll, and he couldn't possibly ignore the goddamn pain that threatened to burst out of his chest.

They climbed through the hostel window in complete, cold silence.

As Ichigo wordlessly took his stuff and went in to shower, Rukia sat on the bed and kicked herself.

She tried to kick herself literally, but it didn't work, and she didn't think it hurt more than the look on his face when she had said those complete words of bullshit.

_"Always friends, right?"__  
_  
To think Byakuya was worried about _her _getting hurt. She was the one this time round, and she felt like dying. She had said it as wrongly as it could get, and it ended up with a complete misintepretation on Ichigo's side which wasn't his fault. And she didn't know how to make it right again, make it go back to something as retarded as usual where they'd argue till Ichigo tickled her, or something stupid like that.

It was her fault. They could have made something out of it, at the beach, they could. The day had been so perfect, even with her accident that ironically made the day better. But she had gone and screwed it all up like she always did, and now he was in this state all because of her. She wanted to cry, but she guessed that she didn't deserve the privilege to let it all out, and she should just keep it in and make herself hurt even more just for the sake of punishing herself.

When Ichigo came out of the shower after at least half an hour, he didn't look at her.

He passed his towel to Rukia and told the floor and the chair and everything else apart from her, "It's your turn."

As Rukia turned the water on, she didn't allow herself to cry, she didn't allow herself to feel anything apart from what he probably was feeling right now. She deserved it.

When she had toweled herself off and put her pyjamas on, she opened the door and saw Ichigo sitting on the bed and staring at the bathroom door, which had become her. The moment he saw her, he looked away, and lay down, turning his back to her, and she swore that she saw his shoulders shake the tiniest of shakes.

Rukia looked at her feet, and the only thing she could bring herself to say to _herself _was _dammit_.

It was only 8, but she turned off the lights and went to bed.

**to be continued T.T**

I feel so sad now lol. it's my first time writing this angsty part, so gah. but i do feel sad. oh well. R&R, and i'll update quick! i hope (: thanks guys. it's a double chapter squished into one this time round, so there're like 4800 words. hope you enjoyed it!

;redcheese


	5. Lockjaw

ZOMG I LOVE YOUR REVIEWS!! so much that i shall do another chapter. teehee.  
I was trying to finish some of my homework before starting on this, and i honestly have never seen a two page math revision wksheet completed so fast. -grins- okaye dokaye, chapter 5 time. (:

**Ichigo Has A Goddamn Hostel Room!****  
****Chapter 5: Lockjaw**

He kept rolling over at odd intervals, trying to be as quiet as possible, to peer over the edge of his bed at Rukia. The shinigami appeared to be sleeping well enough.

He tried to summon up some hate for her, to goddamn _hate_ her for crushing him with those words of hers just like that, but he realized he couldn't. He tried to blame her, he tried to bring forth his _anger to_ fuck her _out_ of his life for doing something like that, but he couldn't.

Ichigo couldn't bring himself to do that.

His conscience shrugged. _It's not her fault if she doesn't love you, you know.__  
_  
_I know that.__  
_  
That's why it was so hard for him to shift all the blame for today's fuck-up to her. It wasn't her freaking fault that she didn't lov-, no, like him, and he couldn't do a shit about it.

And that's why, he figured, that's why something dark and slimy was wrapping itself around him and making him feel like killing himself right now. He had placed all his hopes on the fact that there was a _tiny little possibility _that she could have an ounce of feelings for him, and she apparently did not.

_Always friends, right?__  
_  
Friends. Just friends, and he couldn't force his feelings onto her, he couldn't possibly do that. His face twisted and he buried his head into the pillow. What was the goddamn point?

He wanted to reach out to her, her lying below in an apparent deep sleep, and hug her or something akin to that, but his hands didn't seem to work.

_She doesn't love you, so why even try? __  
_  
So maybe this was what being a Hollow felt like. He unconsciously brought his hand up to check, just in case where his heart was supposed to be had become a hole.

Ichigo felt something in his chest writhe and burn, and he gritted the teeth at the pain. It hurt, and he could actually physically _feel it_, and it definitely made him feel like shit. Even though the level of pain was much, much lower than his fight with Byakuya, it felt a million times worse. He figured that he hadn't become a Hollow. Yet.

Ichigo thought that he'd rather let Byakuya spam him through and good with his stupid Bankai infinitely than have to face Rukia again.

She had fucked him up either way, whatever she had meant by whatever she had said, and maybe she didn't even know it.

_Stop that blubbering_, his conscience berated, hands on its hips (if it had any), _you know there's nothing you can and could do about it, so stop wearing yourself out!__  
_  
He felt like vomiting now. _I know, I goddamn know, and I_**_ know_**_ I can't do a single thing about it, thats why it's just the worst shit in the world.__  
_  
His conscience sighed. _I can't help you here, King. It's your choice whether you want to be weak, or not, okay?. If she sees you like this, she'll obviously feel worse, because she, like you, knows that she can't do anything about it. __  
_  
He wanted his mother.

His mother would take him into her arms and tell him that everything was okay, because she was here. But now everything wasn't, and both of the women in his life that meant _so damn much _to him were gone. His mother was gone, and Rukia was gone in a completely different sense.

_Rukia.__  
_  
He lay there, and let his fist fall onto the bedding with a soft _thump_.

If he continued moping, they would obviously fall apart, Ichigo was aware of that. If they fell apart, and stopped being friends entirely, he knew as well, that the hurt would be so many times more.

Let it be?

_Mother, it's so hard. I can't let it go just like this, it hurts too damn much. To look at her, to see her and know that she doesn't love me, it makes me feel like...like...I don't know, I can't do anything, and I feel so useless, and Mother, I don't know what to do.__  
_  
It dawned on him that his dad must have felt a million times worse. Even if Rukia and him stopped being friends anymore (he felt his heart constrict painfully), it couldn't have been worse than what his dad must have felt when his mother died.

If Rukia died...he wouldn't want to live. Not here, not in Soul Society, where shinigami everywhere would set off memories of _her_. He was better off asleep, but he didn't know kind of what dreams he'd have.

_He loved her.__  
_  
It just hit him like that, randomly, in the gut. He had been rambling on about how goddamn much it hurt, because he came to a conclusion that she didn't love him because of what she said, but he didn't realize the detail that made the whole difference.

He loved Rukia.

His conscience smirked at him. _Just realized, have you. A little late there.__  
_  
Ichigo smiled bitterly. He felt another jolt of pain pass through his ribcage cavity, and it took him all he had to stop himself from doubling over.

_My life is sad_, he mused sardonically.

His conscience placed a white finger on its chin. _So, King, what are you going to do? There's been tsunami after tsunami in here, and Zangetsu isn't very happy with you. Neither am I, by the way, but you don't care much for me either way. _

_You're going to pretend it's all nice and dandy, eh. __  
_  
There was no other way. Rukia didn't love him, and his whining wouldn't help her spirits.

Ichigo realized it was all for her.

_Huh. You really do love her, do you, King.__  
_  
It was going to hurt, but maybe he could live with that. As his conscience faded back into the background, Ichigo sat up and checked his watch.

5:40am.

His mind immediately went into flashback mode.

_'Ichigo, wake up!' _

Zangetsu had told him, _look forward. Step forward, too, and make sure you don't stop. You'll grow old if you look back, and you'll die if you're afraid._

He figured that Ossan made the most sense up till now.

He'd wanted to protect Rukia from whatever shit was out there.

Ichigo figured that this time, the test, for him, was to protect Rukia from his feelings that she obviously didn't need and didn't want.

He felt yet another bolt of sharp pain lash across him like a whip, but he pushed it away.

His conscience peeked its head back around the corner of an up-turned building and rolled its eyes.  
_  
__You're so emo, King, but at least you're sorting it out properly instead of mumbling all your mumbo jumbo.__  
_  
Ichigo looked down at Rukia. That was best for her, he guessed.

_Well, I'll be going now. __  
_  
He sighed. It was going to be hard, much harder than he would expect, but hell. He figured that he'd feed of her happiness, or something like that. It was better than nothing.

Ichigo shifted himself off the bed, and changed into his day clothes. He took one last look at her, lying there, looking almost angelic, and his heart twanged _so fucking painfully_, but he ignored it.

There was no other goddamn way, he told himself firmly.

"Rukia."

She stirred, and when she realized he was at the door, she sat up, trying so hard to rub the sleep from her eyes.

"Ichigo, I-"

"I'm just going for a walk. It's Saturday, so there's no school today."

She opened her mouth, about to say something, anything, but he decided that if he stood there for a second longer and listen to her speak, he'd break down.

"I'll be back soon. See you."

He shut the door.

As he walked away, he didn't hear her sob, calling to him from inside the dorm room.

"Ichigo!"

---

He thought she just wanted to be his friend, and he was dying because of that.

Knowing him, he probably had decided that he'd pretend nothing happened, or something stupid like that. Ichigo was still Ichigo, after all, and she knew that.

And he thought she didn't love him, definitely. She couldn't have said anything worse than those three words, ever.

_Always friends, right?__  
_  
He was so, so damn wrong, and he had sunk _so deep_ into what he assumed she felt that she didn't how the hell she could pull him out, and she didn't know what to say.

It wasn't even his fault that he'd assumed that completely wrong state of mind about her. He was dying because of her, he was dying because of what she said and she felt so screwed up that she didn't know what to do.

In the night she had heard him tossing and turning, but she must have dozed off for a while, so that she didn't hear him get up. She had wanted to climb onto his bed with him, hug him, and tell him that he was completely wrong and that she was _so, sorry _for doing this to him.

But she couldn't. She didn't understand why. Maybe because she was scared of progressing, she was scared of letting him know, or she just didn't know what he would do.

_You can't be scared anymore. Just go talk to him.__  
_  
Easier said than done, she figured.

She got up from the mattress and climbed onto his bed where he had lain just a while ago, and buried her head in his pillow where his head had just been a while ago.

Rukia didn't allow herself to cry, it was weak, and besides, it didn't have much use.

The day was long. She promised herself that she'd figure something out, for both her sake and Ichigo's sake, as she went off to get ready for what life decided to hurl at her.

---

Ichigo climbed a tree in Karakura High's courtyard.

He picked the tallest one, climbed it, sat on the topmost branch and stoned.

Oh well. Ichigo tried to resign to fate, but the only problem was that fate didn't want to let him resign. Rukia was just _there _all the time, tied to him because of her shinigami duties and his power. Which made it all the more worse, but Ichigo was sure he'd get used to it after a while.

His substitute shinigami badge started crowing, and he heard a very painfully familiar voice calling to him.

Ichigo looked down, and he saw Rukia. She was in a blue dress of Yuzu's today, and she was waving to him.

His dream floated back, threatening to stab him in the ass, but he whacked it away. Time to start getting used to this, he snapped firmly to himself.

"Ichigo! A Hollow has appeared about 10.24 seconds away from your position, southerly direction, and it's coming for you!"

She was all amazingly on-task as usual, but he steered his thoughts away from that.

"How's its reiatsu level?"

"It's higher than average, but come down here quickly!"

Ichigo forced his thoughts away from whatever he had been thinking of previously, and switched to battle mode. No point being stupid when both their lives were at stake, especially Rukia's. Her name caused another painful twang, but he ignored it.

He climbed down the tree, and Rukia passed him a little green pill.

"Kon's away, so just take this. It's a normal mod soul."

He didn't look at her, just in case that twang returned and caused him to do something stupid, and swallowed it just as the Hollow's cry resonated off the school grounds.

Rukia burst out of her body while her mod soul, Pyon, scrambled off to safety. Ichigo commanded his own mod soul to do likewise.

"Prepare yourself, Ichigo!"

The Hollow emerged from its abyss of darkness into the human world and raised its head, sniffing expectantly for any tasty little morsels.

It caught sight of the two shinigami on the ground, and grinned deviously.

_Food_.

---

The monster was hideous, Rukia decided. It had...she tried to count fast. Four limbs, and its head resembled a demon lion with long, dangerous canines. The mane on its head appeared to be stained with blood, and Rukia shuddered when she thought about what kind of blood it was.

Beside her, Ichigo gripped the handle of Zangetsu and sprung up, and she followed. The Hollow roared with glee, and its mane _MOVED_. Part of the mane coiled around itself and shot forward like a twisted spear, narrowly missing Ichigo, hurtling towards her.

She swung Shirayuki in one clean arc, and the spear was cleaved into two halves and disintegrated. The Hollow roared in anger at its failed attack, and started firing off even more of these freak spears from its mane.

Ichigo called to her, "You all right?"

When she looked up and right at him, she saw his concern, and she grinned.

"Of course I am, baka!"

Ichigo's eyes widened, and he grinned back.

_Maybe he could live with this, after all.__  
_  
With that, he dodged a swipe by the Hollow's claws with ease, leapt in the air and sliced both its arms clean from its body with two smooth strokes. So smooth, that you only saw the first one.

Ichigo braced himself on the Hollow's nose and pushed off in Rukia's direction, and the Hollow roared in indignation and pounced towards them.

"All yours, Rukia!"

She looked at him as he soared past her, and she knew that things were definitely much better right now.

Rukia raised Shirayuki as the Hollow advanced, roaring madly.

"Mae, Sode no Shirayuki!"

The Hollow roared ferociously at it sensed the spike in her reiatsu, and raised a clawed paw to strike her.

"Tsugi no mai, Hakuren!"

The wave of ice burst satisfyingly from her blade, engulfing the Hollow before it had a chance to evade it. It let out a terrible roar of fury as the ice cracked, along with its life, and disintegrated.

As the splinters of ice rained down and all around, she felt Ichigo land softly right beside her.

Maybe, just maybe, everything could go back on the right track from now.

**to be continuedz.****  
**  
ah, at last, no more sad angst! it made me sad too, you know, as I wrote it.

there will be roughly 9 chapters, I suppose. i hope you're enjoying this fic so far, and thanks for all your lovely support (:

;redcheese


	6. No Substitutes

yay. chapter 6! nothing much to comment about this one, just another thank you to all my wonderful reviewers and faithful readers. :D

**Ichigo Has A Goddamn Hostel Room!****  
****Chapter 6: No Substitutes**

The Hollow slaying had been beautifully flawless, and Ichigo had at last been able to bring himself to look Rukia in the eye, and talk normally to her at the same time.

This, both of them felt, privately of course, was a great stepping stone. But their perspective on what kind of pond this stepping stone was bobbing on the surface of (they wondered simultaneously how stones could even bob in the first place) was in a completely separate universe.

Ichigo felt that, since they were back on speaking terms again and she wasn't looking so bleak, his job was so much easier. His job, well, was basically to continue protecting Rukia. _Awfully noble_, his conscience had mocked, grinning with its black lips, but Ichigo didn't know how else he'd be able to do it.

His feelings...he guessed could live with that. It would be hard, but he'd get over it after a while. His feelings could also be put to much more use (other than hurting himself), like giving him even more drive to protect Rukia anyway.

_I fear that ears of corn shall start sprouting up and all around here, King. _

He swore, if his conscience continued rambling on in its irritatingly sarcastic voice, he'd get the conscience poison from Urahara that he had had in mind all along.

If she asked him if he lov-, no, liked her, he wondered if she'd run in the opposite direction as fast as her shunpo would carry her if he told her the truth. No, Rukia wasn't like that, but still, it would be hard to come clean with her.

He'd try.

So, what did Rukia feel about this great stepping stone?

She was glad of course, since he had to definitely be feeling a little better, enough to bring himself to grin at her, and she was relieved for his well being. Of course, she knew that the battle wasn't even half won yet. It was so confusing, yet so clear at the same time that it was driving her nuts.

Rukia kind of knew what she was supposed to do to make it turn out all right (hopefully). Truth to be told, it was the _carrying out of whatever_ that was hard. It was hard to search all the corners of her mind for bits and pieces of stray courage lying around to bring up that incident. And once she managed to broach that mental boundary of hers, what was she supposed to say to him?

Rukia hoped that he'd have the sense listen to her. Besides, she knew that there was a possibility that his current mental state wasn't as nice and dandy as it seemed to be. Ichigo could, on contary to popular belief, act relatively well when it came to things he wanted to keep from other people.

Not as good as _her_ wonderful acting skills, of course. But no matter.

---

Ichigo clambered back into his body, and Rukia did likewise. He dusted himself off, and shoved his hands into his pockets.

"Nice battle there, midget."

The casual tone required him much more effort than he thought it would, but at least he didn't stutter. The effect was rather rewarding, though.

Rukia's eyes widened indignantly, and she bared her teeth, with the the tell-tale hint of a smile that made his heart leap.

"I am not a midget! Look at yourself, you're like a giraffe."

"...G-giraffe?!"

"Yes! An orange giraffe, for that matter."

"First a turnip, then an orange turnip, then a giraffe, and then an orange giraffe!"

"What about it!"

"I'm starting to see a pattern here."

"Oh, you wouldn't know about it. It's about how the mind of a genius works!"

"Genius? Hah, my foot!"

They both narrowed their eyes each other, all in good fun of an argument.

Ichigo broke the eye contact first, before it made him do something immensely out of character, and shifted his gaze to the floor, blinking hard.

Rukia scuffed a stone on the floor with her shoe and looked down, and then up again at him.

_Here goes nothing, I suppose._

"Ichigo, I need to te-"

"ICHIGOOO! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE ALL ALONE WITH THE MOST BEAUTIFUL KUCHIKI-SAN?!"

It was Keigo, accompanied by a rather bored looking Mizuiro, and Sato Ayumi, who looked very...

Disturbingly pink, in Ichigo's opinion.

Rukia, on the other hand, had other more offensive things to say about the inconvenience of their appearance that she'd rather keep to herself for the time being.

She attempted a smile.

Mizuiro made a great show of checking his watch while Keigo speculated wildly in the background.

"He wanted all of us to go out together today, so here we are."

Ichigo glanced sideways at Rukia. The girl looked absolutely downcast, and he felt so guilty about the whole thing. She obviously wanted to tell him something important, something about what had happened, and it was probably so hard for her to say it.

And these three had come along.

Rukia shrugged, not even bothering to put on a show.

"I'm not going."

Ichigo swore that he _saw _Keigo's heart shatter.

"KUCHIKI-SAN! Why! Why would you not want to go out with us, to bless us with your divine presence? I beg of you, please come along!" Keigo looked as if he was about to cry, and Ichigo almost felt sorry for him if not for his current situation.

"I've got a lot of work to do."

Ichigo shrugged, too. "If Rukia's not going, then I'm not goi-"

Sato giggled (rather eerily, like his dream, Ichigo thought, unnerved.) and tugged on his sleeve, interrupting him in mid-sentence. "Kurosaki-kun, just because Kuchiki-san doesn't want to go, doesn't mean you should miss out on all the fun!"

"Uh, sorry, Sato. I just don't feel like going out."

He turned to Rukia, ready to get the hell out of there, but she stared at a point beyond his right ear, refusing to meet his eyes.

"Sato-san's right. Just because I have homework to do doesn't mean that I should drag you down as well. You should go with them, Kurosaki-kun. I'll be on my way."

He registered the use of his formal address, _Kurosaki-kun_, and his whole ribcage jolted rather painfully. She was angry, all right, and she was making no effort to conceal it.

Rukia turned without a backward glance (or a really small, unnoticable one) and strode away.

Keigo's heart crumbled, decomposed and was blown away by a random gust of wind. He called dramatically after Rukia with a shaking hand.

"Kuchiki-saaaan! Don't leave meeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!"

Ichigo made to go after her, but Sato had wrapped her (pink-nailed) talons around his arm and refused to let go, while Keigo threw himself onto Ichigo in a crude tackle, apparently refusing to lose any more friends who had at least a little notion to go out with him.

"What the hell, Rukia!"

From where he was, being tackled by Keigo and held onto viciously by Sato, Ichigo choked, his chest constricting, but definitely not because of the dusty courtyard ground.

"Rukia!"

---

Ichigo was frog-marched towards the school gates by a very enthusiastic Keigo, a more-or-less bored Mizuiro, and a gleeful Sato. As Ichigo's foot was just about to be planted by force onto the soil of the outside world, he decided that he'd had enough crap from them.

He was really, really mad now.

"FUCKING LET ME GO, RIGHT NOW!!"

Keigo and Mizuiro leapt backwards immediately. They knew Ichigo packed a very, very powerful punch with those fists of his, and they didn't feel like breaking any noses at the moment.

Sato, on the other hand, knew _Kurosaki-kun _wouldn't punch her. Seeing that her _Kurosaki-kun_ was about to leave, and run back to that stupid, Kurosaki-kun-snatcher, Kuchiki Rukia, she hung on to his arm and opened her eyes to achieve the most imploring look that she had ever conjoured up in her life.

"Kurosaki-kun, don't go!"

She had expected him to relent, but she was in for a rather great shock.

He turned around to look at her, and his face was the scariest that she'd ever seen him.

"Get the hell away from me, Sato. Right now." He didn't bother with the formalities, she noticed, and that just made her try even harder.

"But Kurosaki-kun!"

His glare was so intense, so obvious that he was furious with _her _that she recoiled, and he took the well-taken opportunity to pry her fingers off his arm. Once he had freed himself from her hold, he took off.

Sato was shocked beyond measure. No guy, ever, had refused her like Kurosaki-kun had. They had clamoured for her attention, bought her expensive presents and drove her places till she had gotten tired of them, one by one.

Maybe Kurosaki-kun was gay? No, he definitely wasn't, Sato was sure of that. There had to be another reason why he never ever set his eyes on her the way she wanted him to.

Sato's eyes narrowed. Kuchiki Rukia. That was Kurosaki-kun's obstacle from liking her! If she convinced him that that girl was no good at all, completely below herself, then her Kurosaki-kun would definitely fall for her in no time at all!

Right now, he was going to look for that stupid girl, and if Sato didn't do something, Kurosaki-kun would be lost _forever_, and no matter how much money her daddy had, she wouldn't be able to get him back.

She would wait for him in his room, and she would show him how much better, how much _worthier_ she was of him than Kuchiki Rukia.

---

Rukia was so _fucking _pissed.

She had gathered her courage, she had _at last_ summoned the gall to spit it all out, and she had _almost _been able to tell him every damn thing that she had been agonizing about for the past day.

And they had arrived. _They._

On the other hand, _Sato Ayumi _obviously brought some. Rukia hated that girl.

That coveting way that girl looked at Ichigo, the flirty way she talked to him, the way that girl bounced those snide remarks off her, she hated it all. She _abhorred _it.

She hated Sato from the click of her fussy pink heels to the blonde hair on her brain container that was obviously short of a reasonably adequate brain.

Rukia stopped walking.

_Blonde hair...__  
_  
Speaking of blonde hair, where had she seen that shock of bleached monstrosity before...Rukia's eyes widened in revelation.

_Sato, you goddamn sneak.__  
_  
She had to find Ichigo.

---

Ichigo had looked everywhere. The courtyard, the canteen, his classroom (he was desperate), and even the girl's toilets.

He didn't actually physically go _into _the toilet, he didn't feel like dying yet, just in case Tatsuki or someone scary like that was inside. He just stood outside and yelled "RUKIA!!" at least five times till the random girl in the cubicle opened the door, poked her head out and told him that no, there was no Rukia in the toilet at the moment, and could he please do his yelling somewhere else?

That made him feel rather embarrassed. But seriously, where the hell was Rukia? She couldn't have gone _that _far, and she definitely had the sense not to leave the campus without him.

Ichigo, for the first time in his life, hoped for the appearance of a Hollow. She would definitely be wherever it was, and after they had smashed that asshole's skull in, they'd be able to set things straight amongst themselves once and for all.

He paused. Maybe he could have missed something, something that was nagging at him incessantly at the moment. Where could she possibly have gone…?

It hit him like the cherry pie Rukia had thrown at him last month, right smack in his face.

HIS GODDAMN HOSTEL ROOM.

She had obviously gone back there, as no one other than that bastard Otaka had access to his room (she was resourceful enough to hide, he was sure), and she could have some well-deserved peace. Rukia was obviously emotionally drained, just like he was.

And if she wasn't there…well, he'd shunpo over that bridge when he came to it. Meanwhile, he had a sprint to live through.

---

Rukia couldn't find Ichigo at the school gates. She looked around desperately, trying to decide whether she should search the shops outside, or whether she should take a second look around the school.

_You're a freaking shinigami, Rukia_. _Think! _

She had tried to perform Reiraku, which was the compressing of spirit power, but she figured that she didn't have the level required to do so. Rukia thought hard.

"Kuchiki-san!"

It was Mizuiro, supporting a rather dead and bruised looking Keigo on his shoulder. "Are you looking for Ichigo?"

Rukia nodded hastily. "Yes, I am. Have you seen him?"

Mizuiro used his free hand to point in the direction of the campus. "He went that way. You'd better hurry, he seemed so intent on looking for you."

Rukia smiled in relief, and looked at Keigo.

"What happened to him?"

The boy that was alive shrugged. "He tried to chat up Ryo, that tracker girl, and he got royally screwed. Eaten alive by lions, in fact."

Rukia blinked, attempted to express the right amount of concern for Keigo, and took off.

As she ran, she counted out the places she'd search. _The canteen, maybe the guy's toilet, the classrooms, and if he's not freaking there, I'll go back to his goddamn hostel. _

---

Ichigo stuffed the key into the lock roughly, twisted it, and pushed the door open.

The room was completely dark, but he could tell that someone else was inside.

"Rukia?"

He squinted. The figure currently perching itself primly on the edge of his bed was definitely not Rukia. Rukia's hair wasn't that long, and he didn't know any guys, fortunately (including Otaka) who had that kind of hair.

Ichigo wondered whether Hollows took the form of human beings. This was by now the scariest shit he'd ever seen in his years, and he fought Hollows. Attempting to quell both the disappointment and fear rising in his stomach, he sought out the light switch and flicked it on.

"WHAT THE HELL, SATO?!"

"Hello, Kurosaki-kun." Sato smiled softly at him (he still found it creepy).

"HOW THE HELL DID YOU GET IN HERE?!"

She smiled again, showing white straight teeth.

"Mr Otaka's office door is never locked, you know. He has spare keys."

Ichigo was speechless. He needed someone to pour a bucket of water over his head and wake him up from this sadistic nightmare that he was having.

He ran a hand through his hair.

"Why the hell are you here anyway?"

Sato ignored him. She stood up, and straightened her (pink) skirt. Her heels looked dangerous, he observed.

"Kurosaki-kun, what on earth do you see in Kuchiki Rukia?"

Ichigo stared in perplexion, caught completely off guard. He felt his jaw muscles fall completely slack.

"What the-"

"Why did you call her name when you opened the door?"

Ichigo was absolutely nonplussed.

"I was looking for h-"

"Why would she be in here?"

His first thought was that this girl could be some sort of prosecutor, or an interrogator.

Ichigo crossed his arms. He was not feeling very tolerant at the moment, and he wasn't afraid to tell her to get her sorry ass out of his room.

"Why the hell do I need to tell you?"

Sato's eyes widened just a fraction, and to his great horror, they started to fill with tears.

"Kurosaki-kun, why are you so mean to me? I just wanted to know _why_ you always go around with Kuchiki Rukia, instead of me? Why did you abandon me just now to look for her?"

If there was one thing Ichigo hated dealing with, it was crying girls. He might seem rather unsympathetic at the moment, but petty crying girls irritated him, especially when he was in moods like, let's say, the one that he currently was in now. But, really, that didn't necessarily say that he was_ mean_.

"Look, Sato, I barely know you. Rukia's a good friend, and we kind of know each other we-"

"But Kurosaki-kun, I can be better! You can give yourself the chance to get to know me better, and I know we'll be perfect for each other!"

"…Perfect for each other? Sato, you've got it completely wrong, I don't like you in that w-"

Sato's eyes didn't seem that teary anymore. If asked his opinion, Ichigo thought she looked rather scary. Like she would kill little kittens if she had to to reach her target.

"What does Kuchiki Rukia have that I don't? Does she have the figure, does she have the looks? Kurosaki-kun, _open your eyes_, and I am obviously the better choice."

Ichigo's eyebrow twitched.

"Sato, listen to me-"

Sato stood up and sashayed over to him, her skirt swaying, so that they were almost nose to nose, and she rested her hand on his chest.

"I'll show you what she can't possibly know how to do."

Her head tilted just a little more, so that their lips were perfectly aligned, and she smiled to herself in triumph as she leaned in, about to close the gap between their faces.

_I've got him twisted around my little finger._

She didn't expect him to shove her away, so roughly and so violently that she lost her balance and fell onto the floor, legs quaking.

He wasn't affected by what she'd done, or what she'd tried to do. Not one measly bit, she discerned, as he stared at her, in horror, in fury, whatever. He didn't want her, not at all.

Sato's mouth twisted into a very ugly grimace.

"She can't mean that much to you, she's doesn't even have that many friends! Does she have money, huh? And where the hell does she stay? Probably on the streets, in a garbage can, selling herse-"

She stopped. Ichigo had drawn himself up to his full height, and he looked so foreboding, towering over her. His amber eyes were hard and blazing, his jaw set, and he looked completely and majorly enraged, and Sato could feel his anger all around her.

"You're wrong."

She looked at him as she pushed herself off the ground, disbelieving. Kurosaki-kun was angry with her, truly angry, because of that Kuchiki Rukia. She didn't understand. _Daddy, you said so long that I presented myself the way all boys wanted me to, they'd buzz around me like flies to honey. Then why isn't Kurosaki-kun doing that?_

"Rukia would never sell herself, I know that. She's special, she has something that you would never understand, and that's why I treasure her. She has a pride, Sato, and one of the things you don't have is that."

Sato's eyes widened even more, as she met his eyes and saw the real anger in them, the real fire and lava there, burning.

"She has friends, Sato. She doesn't love me, but I'm still there for her, to protect her. Rukia doesn't shove herself on anyone. She's different from you, and for that matter, most of the girls around here. "

_It's all because of Kuchiki Rukia._

She found her voice again.

"She doesn't love you! Why bother, Kurosaki-kun, when you can have me instead!"

Ichigo raised his chin, and smiled bitterly.

"No one else but her, Sato. No one else but her."

Sato was in despair, and she felt as if all the confidence in her was crumbling like a sand castle in the waves.

_No, Kurosaki-kun, why must you do this to me?_

She was about to beg him, plead him, do anything to make him duly take back what he had just said, when she saw his expression change.

Kurosaki-kun was staring somewhere past her shoulder, at the small window on the wall that his bed was against, and he looked extremely surprised. Sato turned, and what she saw gave her quite a turn.

Kuchiki Rukia was standing outside.

Sato didn't think, she didn't consider the risks, she only did what her mind screamed at her to do.

She threw herself at Kurosaki-kun and wrapped her arms around his waist in a one-sided embrace. He was her Kurosaki-kun, who was always, and had always been rightfully hers, and no one, not even Kuchiki Rukia, was going to be able to do anything about that.

**to be continuedz.**

No! Don't hate me yet! I couldn't think of a better way to stop this chapter, honest! Sorry for the late update, school and everything. R&R! My best guess is that there'll be (estimated) 8-9 chapters for this story, either one of the two. :D thank you all so much for seeing this fic as far as Sato has chased madly after Ichigo (much to our dismay), and I shall not disappoint you! (:


	7. Completely Thawed Out

yay, the much-awaited chapter has arrived, and I hear all of you scream. thank you all so much for your reviews and favourites and whatever! randomly, I just saw the new bleach ep 141, and I am not amused. oh well, it was one-sided! -grins evilly- okay, chapter 7 time (:

**Ichigo Has A Goddamn Hostel Room!**

**Chapter 7: Completely Thawed Out**

Rukia felt numb. She felt completely frozen over, inside out and all around, like how she almost ended up when she trained her shikai for the first time with Shirayuki.

An internal avalanche seemed to be ravaging her insides, leaving completely frozen trails in its wake. Her stomach felt as though it was filled with solid ice, and Rukia swore something in the cavity of her chest froze, her lung, or something.

_Sato…and…Ichigo…_

She took in sharp intake of breath, and she could feel it getting so cold.

_Ichigo._

---

She stood at the window, watching them with wide, unblinking eyes, so much so that she looked as if she were dead.

Ichigo felt himself pushing Sato away, grabbing her arms and trying to force her to let go of him, right now. He saw himself yelling, he saw himself yelling at Sato to move, but the girl didn't budge.

And he saw Rukia watching him all along.

Everything felt as if it had been set on mute, like someone had turned the sound off.

He saw her reach for the latch, slowly, robotically, as if she was programmed to do so, and he saw her lift it. He saw himself see her open the window and climb in, movements silent and impassive.

He watched Rukia, his arms unconsciously trying to tear Sato away, as she landed softly on the floor of the room, staring back at him, but seeming to be leagues away at the same time.

When he manage to shove Sato away at last, the volume was turned back up somewhat and his ears started to work properly again.

"_Kurosaki-kun!_"

He ignored her. He couldn't hear her. He _didn't want _to hear her.

Rukia looked back blankly, aridly at him, two icicles in two empty sockets, and his ribcage seemed to crack from within.

_Why was she being like this?_

It seemed as if it was forever before she opened her mouth to speak, but her voice was as dead as her eyes were, and it hurt.

_It was as if she lov-_

"You should know something."

Anything, just say anything,he wanted to tell her, but he still hadn't found his voice, which appeared to be avoiding him at all costs.

Rukia's face betrayed no emotion. Like a figure carved in ice. So perfect yet so detached, and even he was suppressed into the bitter silence that emanated from her.

"That girl, that girl beside you."

He barely heard Sato squeak out an acknowledgement. Even she had turned mute; even she could feel the blizzard.

"She was the one."

Even though Rukia hadn't said it out loud, he understood.

"_**Sato, you**_-"

"Leave it."

Her voice was so, so cold, it cut him. It cut him deep, but he felt no blood. Rukia raised her chin, with an infinite likeness to Byakuya, and the temperature fell further.

"Get the hell out of here."

---

"How did you know?"

His voice was earnest with the new found knowledge, and hers was frosty in comparism.

"She didn't protest much, did she."

He looked at her, a little surprised.

"You don't mind her getting away like that?"

She shifted her gaze to the door, and he saw something flash in the depths, beneath the frozen surface of her eyes.

"No, I don't _care_."

They stood like that for as long as the hug was, maybe longer. He felt as if it had occurred_ so long ago_, a century, a millennium, too far back for him to grasp, to pull back towards him with his fingers.

The silence mocked him. _I dare you to break me, Kurosaki._

Rukia regarded him coolly.

"She likes you, doesn't she."

Ichigo recognized the hidden question behind it almost immediately. He knew Rukia too well, just like that.

_Do you like her?_

His first intention was to tell her, right now, that he didn't, and he would swear on anything to prove it, but something else got ahead of the protest instead of what he had intended to say.

"Why do _you_ care?"

His own words sounded harsh even to himself, and he felt her pain when she flinched so badly, her jaw clenching and her fists curling up, and he just _knew _that her nails were digging into the palms of her hands.

"I care."

She said it so simply, without any sort of implication behind her words that she seemed to have turned back into the little girl who could never ever tell a lie. Ichigo reached desperately, unconsciously, for the possibility that she could lov-, no, like him, but he firmly shoved it away. He couldn't afford to live in denial, he couldn't.

_She said it herself._

Rukia knew she had to say something, but the trouble was that she didn't know where to fit her words in; she didn't know what to say.

He bent his head, staring at the ground.

"Always friends, you said. You said it so clearly yourself."

Rukia shook her head helplessly, feeling the ice inside her stomach creep up towards her throat, suffocating her. His voice cracked, and so did she.

"I thought that maybe I could ignore it, maybe I could just live with it, but I can't."

He swallowed, and she heard him choke between his words. She lunged blindly at the silence.

"Ichigo-"

"Goddammit, listen to me. I'll die, I'll die if I don't tell you, _right now_. Just listen to me, please, Rukia."

With each sentence, he took a step closer to her.

"It took so long for me to realize it, you know that? Maybe I should have said something earlier, and then I could have had a better chance. But too late for me, I was too slow, and maybe you already are in love with someone else by now, I don't know."

He shut his eyes for a while, and opened them again.

"It kind of jumped on me. It took a while, and I don't even think that there was a particular day I can remember when exactly it dawned on me. I just found myself there, not knowing how I arrived, and the only direction that I could go was forward, right?"

Rukia nodded numbly. Had he given up on her? She felt as cold as the icy fires of hell. Was he telling her just to get it off his chest and then _freaking forget about it_? She didn't know.

"I tried to make myself live with it after the b-beach, because I thought if I told you you'd run away or something, but it's so hard to keep it inside. To see you every day, and be reminded over and over again that you don't, it's hell. You live in my damned _closet_, Rukia. I can't do this."

She wanted to tell him that she wouldn't run away if he told her, to stop his eyes from looking so cloudy, so saturated with his frustration, but it was her voice, this time, that was evading her.

"Do you? I don't know, you definitely don't, but at the same time, maybe not. I keep telling myself that no, you don't, but some little shit keeps saying 'BUT THEN', over and over again, and I'm going to go mad, you know?"

He took yet another deep, shuddering breath.

"So just euthanize me, Rukia. Confirm it; confirm it that you don't, and don't say things that you don't mean just to make me feel better, because you know it'll kill me to know you lied. Do or don't, I don't care, just tell me something that I know I can believe."

Ichigo stopped, inches away from her, and shut his eyes again for a split second. _Go._

"Rukia, do you-"

She raised her chin high, stopping him, her eyes shining with something that he didn't dare identify.

"Do I love you?"

He let his shoulders fall slack, as he shoved his hands into his pockets, defeated. He felt so bitter as he replied in a flat, toneless voice.

"Yes, Rukia. Do you love me. That's exactly what I wanted to know."

He didn't expect her to take a step forward, he didn't expect her to lean against his front like that, and he didn't expect her to slide her arms around his middle, burying her head in his chest.

"I do."

It was slightly muffled, but it was so direct, so obvious that he ironically didn't understand it. His arms jerked involuntarily, as if to reach out to hug her back, but he couldn't believe. He couldn't.

Ichigo brought his hands down, gently, to her shoulders and moved her away so that he could see her face.

"Don't lie."

Rukia's gaze was unblinking and undoubtedly clear.

"I didn't."

He knelt down so that he was eye to eye with her and grasped her shoulders lightly, but she could feel his desperation. His voice was hoarse with disbelief.

"Then why?"

_Why 'Always friends,' Rukia?_

"Will you listen to me?"

"Of course."

She opened her mouth, hesitated for a second, and dove into it. Everything, everything that she had been _aching _to say, everything that been boxed up inside to hopefully be put away forever. Rukia's voice cracked, too, but she kept talking.

"I wanted to know why it happened, but it came out all wrong, and you looked so terrible that I didn't know how to turn it around again."

She had wanted to tell him earlier, she whispered, but Sato had come into the picture, and she hadn't felt like being around any longer.

And to see Sato lay her claws on him, it had frozen her solid inside out, and till now, she said, she felt as if she hadn't thawed out yet.

"I'm sorry. I know it won't be enough for the shit I made you go through, but I-"

Ichigo stopped her in mid-sentence by putting his hand on her cheek, his thumb drawing soft circles somewhere around her cheekbone. She gasped, as she felt the warmth spreading back from where his hand touched her along the veins of her face in little ribbons, little golden ribbons of warmth.

"You stupid, stupid girl."

His voice was so quiet, yet so full of raw emotion that surged over her in waves, and she leaned into it. Her arms fit under his, her hands holding onto his shoulders, while his own held her like she was made of porcelain, as she buried her head into his neck.

"You're so stupid, you know that?"

She loosened her hold so that she was face to face with him again, ready to protest that she wasn't.

"Thawed out yet?"

The question caught her completely off guard.

"…I would suppose so."

He grinned and leaned in almost simultaneously, his head tilted at an angle as if he had known how to kiss all his life, catching her completely by surprise.

His lips bumped her NOSE.

"YOU MISSED!!!"

His eyes widened as a very, very bright red tint spread all over his face.

"Oh fuck, I'm so sorry. About the missing, and uh, the kissing too. Pretend that never happened, and you can hit me."

Rukia grinned.

"No, it's okay, try again."

"…W-what?"

"Go on, try again!"

"…Really?"

"HAH, I KNEW IT, you're a perv!"

"…I'M NOT!"

"Oh yes you are!"

"Shut up! Fine, let me have another go."

"HEY. DON'T TALK ABOUT KISSING ME LIKE IT'S SOME KIND OF PINBALL GAME, DAMN YOU!"

"Okay, okay!"

"It's all about timing!"

"Screw the timing, your head's supposed to tilt, too. You're supposed to be HELPING ME."

"What, like this? Or am I supposed to break my neck, huh?"

"No, move left a bit. You see, it's like a jigsaw piece. "

"You can't even pick a metaphor that sounds _decent_."

"Stuff you. Look, you're all cross-eyed! Just tilt your head to the right just a little bit more, and you'll have it."

"…O-okay. Like that?"

"Yes!"

"So…uh…"

"On the count of three, maybe?"

"Good idea. It's all about timing, as you said?"

"Okay. Uh. So?"

Their hearts simultaneously sped up, and this time, they both knew it.

"One…"

"Two…"

"Three."

Needless to say, the timing was perfect.

**to be continuedz :D**

YAYYY! This fic isn't over yet, though. this chapter was so hard to type! but I made it, and here it is. -wide grin-

ah, what have you been all waiting for. I'm delighted at the outcome, even if I have to say so myself. R&R -grins wider-


	8. Pickled Pickles

Yay for chapter 7, and I'm sure you all had some swooning that you had to do! I did -jumps around ecstatically-. Oh, randomly, chapter 7 was published on 9-21-2007, and the story was first published/written on 9-12-2007. coolness :D this is _probably_ the SECOND last chapter of _**Ichigo Has A Goddamn Hostel Room!**_, and thank you all for riding the waves with me. Your reviews and support had a major part to play in the writing of this fic, and I am really grateful to all of you.

So, shall we?

**Ichigo Has A Goddamn Hostel Room!**

**Chapter 8: Pickling Pickles**

After that marginally embarrassing issue of accidental nose-kissing, Ichigo was _naturally _indignant to prove that he was actually a rather decent kisser.

Rukia had no complaints, of course.

After about half an hour of both failed and successful attempts of _le kiss_, they came to a consensus that they should never, ever kiss in the presence of anyone they knew.

Unless they wanted to die of embarrassment, of course.

Rukia wondered aloud, what would Byakuya say?

Ichigo prodded her on the nose and told her that _he _was the one who had anything to worry about if Byakuya came to know about this, and she responded by hugging him and telling him that she'd make sure that Nii-sama wouldn't protest.

Much.

So when it reached one in the morning, when it reached the point that they had talked till their throats were sore, they turned in, forgetting completely about dinner.

She surprised him by tapping his shoulder sometime after he had drifted off and asking him if he could please be her bolster, just for tonight.

He rubbed his eyes and grinned blurrily at her.

"Why not?"

---

Rukia woke up.

_Ooh, how warm. _

She was suddenly very aware of his arms around her.

_But still, it feels nice._

Blinking at the sudden surge of awkwardness that made her entire spine tingle, she hesitantly put her hand up to his face and poked his nose lightly.

He made some sort of noise that sounded like "ngah", furrowed his eyebrows for a while, and then he looked perfectly relaxed.

Rukia was tempted to do it again, but she realized that it was one of the first times she had seen him look so peaceful. Close up, as well, she mused.

It was a rare sight indeed.

Well, of course, the _other times _that she had seen him look so completely uninhibited was yesterday evening, but thinking about that would make her blush, so she shoved that aside for the moment.

There was the sound of footsteps from outside, and a sheet of paper was slipped underneath the door.

Rukia extracted herself from his rather tight hold around her, went to pick it up.

"There will be no school tomorrow due to the birthday of the principal…" She inspected the letter. The rationale was constructed of complete bullshit, but there was the school stamp on it all right. Folding the piece of paper into half and putting it on the table, she walked over to Ichigo and knelt down beside the edge of the bed. He had turned over to face the door in his sleep while she had gotten up.

Rukia pinched his nose lightly, giving in to the temptation. There was _another _temptation that had surfaced because she had stared at his face for too long, but Rukia decided that she shouldn't address that particular one at the moment.

Ichigo woke up.

He sniffed a little, and then he opened his eyes a fraction. When they registered her presence right in front of him, they snapped open in slight shock, and then softened.

"Hey."

His smile was a sleepy one, and he pinched her nose, too.

"Ichigo, it's a holiday tomorrow."

"Mmph, really?"

"Can we finish our homework today, and then go out tomorrow?"

He stretched out a hand to graze her cheek with his fingers.

"'Course."

---

The rest of the day passed smoothly. They did their homework; he stole a kiss or two from her, randomly, when she wasn't looking.

After Rukia's stomach had started to growl, they decided that they'd better make a quick break for the canteen, and Ichigo bought some noodles, so that they wouldn't die of hunger that evening.

So, when every shred of homework had been conquered, done and filed away nicely, Rukia helped Ichigo make dinner.

After many yells of "DON'T TOUCH THE WATER!!" and "NO, THAT'S NOT COOKED YET!" dinner was served without much incident.

"You wanted to go somewhere tomorrow?"

Rukia, in-between bites, grinned at him.

"Yep."

Ichigo set his chopsticks down and failed to resist patting her on her head. She frowned at him the best she could with a mouthful of noodles.

"So, where do you want to go?"

Rukia rested her head on his shoulder.

"Can you not be informed?"

"Why not?"

"It's a surprise!"

"Okay, okay. What time are we leaving?"

She straightened, and looked at him deviously.

"Twelve am."

"Okay, that's fin-WAIT, WHAT? TWELVE AM?!"

Rukia grinned.

"What the…Rukia, that's INSANE!!"

"I _did _say that I wanted to go out _tomorrow_, Ichigo."

He gaped at her. She was definitely on drugs, or something. Did the noodles have anything to do with it?

"Why the hell do you want to leave so early?! Or so late! BOTH!"

Rukia grinned again, and Ichigo was convinced that she was definitely not in the right state of mind at the moment.

"Get changed. We're moving out."

The next thing he knew, he was being dragged outside at freaking twelve am in the morning, or night, for that matter.

Well, he thought as he resigned to be treated like Santa's sack of toys, holding Rukia's hand was a comeback in any sort of situation.

It was only when she shoved him out of the school gates, did he realize that she was wearing shorts.

"What's up with the shorts?"

They were black and sporty, and that was as much as he could tell in the abysmal lighting of the midnight street lamps. But he had never seen Rukia in anything other than her usual dresses, school uniform and PE attire, and he was marginally shocked by the sudden entry of _shorts_.

"I borrowed them from Tatsuki. I think they'd come in handy."

Ichigo's jaw muscle jumped violently.

"RUKIA, WHERE THE HELL ARE WE GOING?!"

She said nothing, and grabbed his hand and led him along the silent concrete pathways of Karakura Town.

_Well, she should know where she's going. She's not that dumb._

After about ten minutes of walking, and the occasional badgering to tell him where the hell they were going, when a rather familiar looking sign stared back at him with its big white words.

**BEACH**.

"Holy shit, Rukia!"

She stepped on his foot, and laughed.

"You're stupider than I am, sometimes."

"Hey, you just admitted that you're stupid!"

"…I did?"

"Yep."

"…Oh shit."

Ichigo bent down, and touched her cheek with his lips.

"This place brings back memories for us, eh."

Rukia looked abashed, and she pulled on his ear absentmindedly.

"I'm sor-"

He swung her onto his shoulders suddenly, taking all the breath out of her, and put on his annoyingly righteous voice.

"To say sorry is overrated. To bring me here isn't."

She tugged on his hair in silent gratitude, as he walked towards the shore, kicking off his shoes and helping her undo her laces as well.

He was being nice today.

Rukia realized, a little too late, that his intentions of carrying her weren't really all out of the goodness of his heart, when he pitched her head first into the waves.

Rukia resurfaced, spluttering, while he stood calf-deep in the water, laughing at her.

"YOU EVIL TWAT!"

She lunged at him, something that he wasn't expecting, and she managed to push him into the water too. Shaking the salt water out of his eyes, Ichigo snarled. Luckily, board shorts had tickled his fancy today instead of long pants.

"You cheated!"

Rukia laughed, took ahold of his arm and pulled him into deeper water.

"Rukia, d'you think the substitute shinigami badge is salt-water resistant?"

She looked at him in alarm.

"SHIT, MY SPIRIT PHONE!!"

Ichigo's eyes widened.

"Oh, boy." 

---

So, after declaring that Rukia's phone was officially waterlogged and salted while Ichigo's badge completely unharmed, they shrugged nonchalantly and returned to the waves.

Rukia dived head-first into the water, and came up clutching an oval object.

"Ichigo, what's this?"

He swam over to her, squinting. It was pretty dark.

"It's a clam."

She went down again, came up with at least five of the things, and waded over to the shore to deposit her findings. Ichigo felt around aimlessly with his toes on the seabed, perplexed. How the hell did she even know that they were there?

The next time Rukia went under, she didn't come up again.

"Rukia?" A little voice called out that it was pointless calling out for her, but he ignored it.

She didn't resurface.

Trying to quell the panic that was rising, Ichigo dived, and opened his eyes underwater. He tried to ignore the persistent acrid sting of the salt water, but all he could see was murkiness, greenish black sand and the rather creepy looking rays of the moonlight.

He went up for air, and the next thing he knew, a rather wet pair of hands grabbed his shoulders.

"GOTCHA!"

Rukia was triumphant.

He turned around and glared at her, and she immediately stopped laughing when she saw how serious he looked.

"Don't do that again. I was goddamn worried."

Rukia's eyes widened in comprehension.

"I mean, you're a shinigami, but I can't help but worry, can I? It's pitch dark, and there might be sharks and stuff around."

She hugged him.

"Sorry."

He kissed her softly, and when they parted, he dunked her underwater in one smooth movement.

"YOU BASTARD!"

One was able to gather by now, that this would go on for _quite awhile._

---

After successive dunkings of themselves, and the efforts to get the other to go under the water as well, Ichigo and Rukia were tired.

But to say they were simple tired is a natural understatement, admittedly.

Ichigo spread himself on the sand and shut his eyes. He felt completely retarded now, he said out loud, and all he wanted to do was to dig a hole in the sand and hide in there. With Rukia, of course.

Rukia agreed weakly.

"I feel like a pickled sardine," she groaned. She could feel her hair congealing, strand by strand.

"That's pathetic. I feel like salted vegetables."

"I feel like preserved ginger."

"Now you're talking. I feel like a pickle."

"A pickled pickle? How do you pickle a pickle if the pickle's already pickled?"

"…What the hell?"

He turned to face her, and saw that she was on her back, watching the sky.

"Rukia?"

"Mm?"

"Rukia."

She turned on her side to look at him.

"Yeah?"

Ichigo grinned.

"You're dumb."

She bared her teeth indignantly and lunged for the collar of his shirt.

Unfortunately, there was one problem.

There was no collar, and more importantly, there was no shirt.

Ichigo, who had been preparing to run for his life, was in for a shock when he saw her stare for a few seconds, turn a shade of dark maroon (the lighting, see) and cover her eyes with her hands.

"…Rukia?"

"Put your shirt on!"

He gaped at her. She was obviously embarrassed.

But what the hell?

"…You're embarrassed?!"

Behind her hands, Rukia let out some sort of noise that sounded like a confirming one.

Ichigo was completely speechless.

"But you've seen me before in _something like _this stage of undress!"

She squeaked. He couldn't freaking believe it.

"When I got slashed up by Byakuya and Grimmjow, it was about the same as this!" He paused. She was still hiding behind her fingers.

"I didn't want to catch a cold!!"

Rukia shook her head madly. He thought she looked like a dying fish, but he'd keep his thoughts to himself at the moment.

"Oh, come on, it can't be _THAT BAD_, can it?"

And at last, she talked. He sighed. Only half the battle was won, really.

"…It's not t-that."

"Then what?!"

"Y-you're e-exposed."

Ichigo threw his hands up in exasperation.

"You're ridiculous!"

"No, I'm not!"

"Yes, you are! You're a ridiculous little imp."

"Nooo!"

"Yes!"

"I am absolutely not, Ichigo, and if you call me that again I will soc-"

He put his arms around her waist and pulled her towards him.

"See, it isn't that bad anymore."

Rukia felt her face burning. _Mmph._

"Relax. I'm not a pervert."

She let go of him, and prodded him in the ribcage, finding it difficult not to stare.

_He has very nice ab-NOOOOOOOOO BAD RUKIA, BAD RUKIA!_

Ichigo patted her head.

"It's not like I'm going to walk around at home like this. It's the basics of beachwear, really."

His mouth stretched into a rather evil looking smile.

"Which you would naturally have no idea about, of course, given your alienation from the human race for who knows how long…"

He was promptly served a well-deserved punch in the stomach.

"OW!! HEY, DAMN YOU. COME BACK HERE!!"

Rukia skipped happily (but rather fast too, the bastard) towards the waves and teetered on the shoreline, looking back at him and smiling so widely that he felt his heart smile with her.

He knew she would definitely smack him if he said something mushy, so he smiled, too. Ichigo stopped, and looked up at the sky.

The first rays of sunlight were peering hesitantly through the clouds, and the stars had started to disappear one by one. Ichigo had a sudden, a very random brainwave.

He picked up one of the clams that Rukia had left on the shore (some had managed to burrow down into the sand, but whatever) and waved it at her.

"Get more of these!"

---

Ichigo was quite a capable guy; even if he said so himself.

His studies were adequate, and he _knew _that if he put in more effort he could be a top student like Ishida (pompous ass). His fitness and physique were certainly the top-notch, and no one could deny that.

But there was something that frustrated him today.

Just something that he couldn't really put his finger on.

"HOW THE HELL DID YOU FIND SO FREAKING MANY?!"

Rukia had found more than forty clams.

FORTY CLAMS.

And the very, very capable Kurosaki Ichigo had found ONE.

He had wanted to include the empty shell that he had managed to find after ten minutes of painful searching with his toes, but Rukia wouldn't let him.

"No cheating," she had chided, while waggling a finger.

Ichigo wasn't even sure if he wanted to kiss her or to dunk her when she did that. So, he did both.

But he had felt so BELITTLED when she resurfaced, clutching at least three clams gleefully in her hand, hair dripping with salt water.

Rukia cocked her head and examined him. He was resiliently probing the seabed with his foot, and he seemed like a little boy.

She couldn't help but smile.

"Ichigo," she called, wading over to him.

He grunted, and continued to probe.

"Do you want me to teach you how to find clams?"

He turned to look at her, ready for some sort of retort, but he noticed the earnestness in her expression.

No malice, eh. Ichigo set his jaw.

"It's tough."

Rukia touched his nose with the tip of her finger, smiling.

"I know."

She used her own toes to probe around for a clam, explaining as she went along.

"You can't use your whole foot; you're supposed to use a toe or two. Once you feel something that you know isn't sand, just pick it up. If it's not a stone, it should be a clam."

Rukia nudged the clam discreetly into his path, grateful for the cover of the dark water tinted with sparkles of morning light.

"I think I've got one!"

Ichigo looked rather excited at the prospect of finding a clam. He stuck his hand into the water and raised it high, looking rather embarrassed at his enthusiasm yet happy at the same time.

"Ichigo?"

He turned to look at her, with that grin still plastered on his salt-smeared face.

"Hmm?"

"Smile more."

He dropped the clam, which hit the water with a soft _plunk_ and sunk. He groaned, but something was more important at the moment than the goddamn clam.

"Say what?"

"Are you deaf? I asked you, no, ordered you, to smile more."

Ichigo shook his head exasperatedly. She was being so _weird _and _caring _today, but somehow, he felt a little warmer.

Rukia grinned at him, her expression encouraging.

He couldn't help it.

He smiled, too.

**to be continuedz.**

I was intending to make this the last chapter, but due to horrific time constraint and goddamn exams, I have to stretch it. gah. this is basically happy fluff lol. well, I guess you all like that, right? (: thank you for reaaaading!

;redcheese


	9. Tying Up Loose Ends

An update has been dragged out for so many days, and I apologize. Exams and crap, but I managed to find some random shreds of time to type this out. Last chapter, people. Thank you for reviewing this story, thank you for seeing Ichigo and Rukia through bouts of angst. And not to mention hating Sato (I did.) So, redcheese presents to you: Chapter 9.

**Ichigo Has A Goddamn Hostel Room!**

**Chapter 9: Tying Up Loose Ends**

Rukia stared at the pile of driftwood they had gathered.

"Do you know how to light a fire, Ichigo?"

He prodded her nose, and she squirmed.

"No, I don't. But you do."

"What? I don't!"

"Oh yes you do."

"…I maintain that I don't!"

"Well, I maintain that you don't know that you can do what you maintain that you don't."

"You stupid turnip, how am I supposed to know something that I don't even know how to do?"

Ichigo sighed. This was going to take longer than he thought.

"Rukia, you _are _a shinigami, are you not?"

She frowned at his question.

"Of course I am. Is that some sort of trick question?"

He grinned.

"No it's not. But I still say that you do know how to light a fire."

Rukia bared her teeth. "I don't!"

He sighed again.

"Okay, okay. Let's see. Does the phrase 'DEMON ARTS' sound relatively familiar to you?"

She blinked, and started shredding a twig that she had picked up from the pile.

"Kidou?"

"Yea, kidou. Now, does the phrase 'BLUE FIRE' make any sense now, you moronic rabbit-loving fiend of a shinigami?"

Rukia dropped the twig, and attempted to punch him.

"SAY SO EARLIER, BAKA."

---

The fire (which was undeniably a rather lovely shade of blue) crackled merrily away, while Rukia brought an armful of seaweed that Ichigo had asked her to get.

Or ordered her to get, in actual fact.

"Okay, that's enough. Get the clams."

"Don't order me around; I'm not your maid!"

He was at her side faster than she imagined, and put his arms around her.

"All right, I'm sorry."

She tried, and failed, to poke him in the ribs.

"Say please."

"Yes m'am. Please, if you wouldn't mind, bring the clams over to the fire?"

Rukia tiptoed, and kissed him.

"Now that's the way to go. Keep m'am-ing around, and I'll kiss you again."

Ichigo grinned. Rather evilly, actually.

"YES M'AM. Hah, you owe me another."

Rukia cringed. She somehow regretted her verbal promise of smooches.

"Ichigo, what do we do with the seaweed?"

He knelt down beside the fire, and dumped half the seaweed over it. Steam hissed its way through the green lump as he tossed the clams onto it and covered the whole thing with the remaining seaweed.

Brushing his hands off on his shorts, he turned around and put both hands on Rukia's shoulders.

Her eyes softened. Being nose to nose to Ichigo was kind of funny and warm and happy at the same time.

He cleared his throat, as if he was about to say something. Rukia blinked, her heart rate increasing.

Ichigo grinned.

"M'AM."

Her fist was inches away from his jaw when he actually leaned in, and kissed her.

---

"Mmph. Stop hugging me like that, unless you want me to be the first soul in history that has died of suffocation."

He ignored her completely, burying his head into her hair even further.

Rukia narrowed her eyes. It was nice to be held like this, but to be used as a stress ball was not a very nice thing to be.

"Ichigo, the clams are burning!"

He smiled into her hair.

"I won't be tricked by you, no way."

"…The clams are really burning!"

"Am not listening, Rukia."

She jabbed him mercilessly, and he yelped, jumping back and clutching his side at the same time.

"The clams, Ichigo!"

A rather nasty smell reached his nose, and he furrowed his brows.

Shit.

---

After three burnt fingers and lots of smoke, Ichigo managed to rescue three quarters of the clams from a horrible burnt death.

Which was contradictory in itself, considering that either way, they'd be dead.

But no matter.

What _was_ worrying, however, was the level of cholesterol he'd accumulate by the end of today.

Rukia had nothing to worry about of course, but he did.

Ichigo grabbed another clam, shrugged the matter aside, and moved on with his life.

"I like clams, Ichigo."

Rukia had already eaten her way through half her share with gusto and he tried, and failed to suppress a smile.

"Slow down, or you'd get a really bad stomach ache."

She ignored him, finished the rest of her clams, and started on his.

"Hey!"

It's obvious that he gave in to her in the end.

---

After Rukia tossed the clam shells into the sea, and after Ichigo had covered the fire with sand, they decided to go back to the hostel. It _was _seven am, after all, and they couldn't ignore the fact that they were both damn freaking tired.

Ichigo marveled at the miracle that no one had seen the bright blue fire dancing on the beach.

He imagined Lady Luck smiling a smile akin to that of Urahara's and waving her bright pink striped fan at him.

Ichigo blanched, and Rukia peered at him in concern, clearly oblivious to the horror movie that his inner mind's theatre was playing.

"Ichigo, are you okay?"

He shook his head, choking, and told her about the horrible imagery that had been floating into his mind.

Rukia stared at him for a few seconds, and she laughed.

She laughed like she'd never, ever stop, and Ichigo swore he felt something buried deep in his ribcage float up ever so lightly, and dissipate.

He bent down, holding her chin with his right hand and her back with his left, angling his head towards hers. Rukia smiled at him, for him, her eyes crinkling softly at the corners as she leaned in, too.

As they kissed, he brought both arms around her, lifted her up from the sand, and swung her around in arcs, in circles that he wished with all his heart that'd never, ever end.

---

The first sight that they were met with when they (at last) made it back to school, hand in hand, was a horrifying and shocking one.

Ichigo thought it looked even worse than Lady-Luck/Urahara, something like a life sized replica of the hideous pink toy that his father had tried to press on him on (wrongfully) discovering that his precious son was gay.

Rukia thought it looked like _shit._

She liked to keep things short and simple, just like herself, pun obviously not intended.

It was a bright pink limousine, and whether it was hot or baby pink was not the issue here. It was _there_, and it was without doubt going to _kill _both their eyes.

"…Holy shit, Rukia."

"Ditto."

A clicking of heels made them both spin around, Ichigo in wide eyed horror, and Rukia with her violet eyes blazing with fire.

Sato blinked rapidly, and attempted to compose herself. Arranging the pink scarf around her neck, and adjusting her tiny pink skirt, she tried, and failed, to appear completely disconcerted at Ichigo and Rukia's appearance, coupled with the fact that they were both hand in hand.

"Hello, Kurosaki-kun!"

Ichigo cringed instinctively, both at her sugary tone and Rukia's grip on his fingers, but he hardened his expression.

He wasn't going to forgive her just yet.

Sato looked at the floor, twisting her (pink) gloves around with her fingers.

"Kurosaki-kun, I wanted to…apolo-"

"Rukia's right here, you know?"

Sato looked up at him, large eyes widening.

"Kuro-"

"You should at least remember your manners now, right?"

Sato turned pink. Her mouth tightened, and she sent a fleeting glance at Rukia, who was holding Ichigo's hand with something akin to pride.

"Hello, Kuchiki-san."

Rukia smiled, but the violet fire in her eyes didn't extinguish itself, and her grip around his fingers didn't loosen.

"Hello, Sato-san."

Sato looked away.

"Kurosaki-kun, you and Kuchiki-san are together?"

Ichigo turned to look at Rukia, and then back at Sato. He nodded.

"Yep, we are."

Sato looked at the ground again, fidgeting uncomfortably.

"Kuchiki-san, I'm sorry for throwing the ball at you. Kurosaki-kun, I'm sorry, too."

Rukia blinked, surprised. But she smiled, a softer one this time.

"It's okay, Sato-san. I'm thankful for your apology."

Sato looked up at both of them, and looked away, her lashes batting frantically, feverishly, betraying all pretence of indifference.

"Kurosaki-kun, I'm transferring, and I wish both of you well."

Ichigo sighed. It was no use attacking her like that, he thought, and when he looked at Rukia, he saw the same message reflected back at him.

"Sato."

The girl looked up at him, face tensed and pale.

"It's all right. I mean, what you did really sucked, but it's no use being angry with you, right?"

Rukia cleared her throat, and her grip on his fingers relaxed a little.

"I forgive you, Sato. Just…don't do that to anyone else."

The corners of Sato's mouth twitched just a little, as her eyes sparkled with held back tears.

"Thank you, Kurosaki-kun and Kuchiki-san."

Ichigo shrugged. "You're transferring?"

Sato nodded mutely, and her fingers stopped abusing her pink glove at last.

"Ayumi-dono! All your luggage has been loaded into the boot, and we're ready to set off!"

A smartly dressed (in pink, both Ichigo and Rukia observed, pitying him) chauffer appeared behind the flamboyant vehicle, opening the car door with professional promptness.

"Your father does not want to be kept waiting, Ayumi-dono, I advise you to tie up all your loose ends, and hurry!"

Sato turned just as she was about to enter the car. She looked at Rukia, her white beret settling perfectly on her blonde head.

"Kuchiki-san, please take care of Kurosaki-kun."

Rukia inclined her chin slightly, and straightened up, keep eye contact with Sato.

"I would have no reason not to, Sato-san."

Sato nodded stiffly, and with a quick glance at Ichigo, stepped inside the car.

As the car zoomed away in a cloud of exhaust, which Ichigo was surprised wasn't pink; he turned to look at Rukia.

"You're a fierce one, aren't you?"

All the tension seemed to seep out of her as she looked at him, and she smiled, clearly relieved.

"You're one to talk, _Kurosaki-kun_."

He grinned, and brushed her cheek with his fingers, and then his lips.

"How about a nice, warm shower?"

Rukia's eyes lit up, and she nodded vigorously, hair bobbing up and down.

"Me first?"

Ichigo narrowed his eyes at her.

"It's not fair, you know, the way you make me give in to you."

She stuck out her tongue at him.

"All right, all right. You first."

She whooped and grabbed his hand, and he felt as if he was never, ever going to stop smiling with her.

"YOU ORANGE TURNIP, HAH! I DEMAND YOU TO BUY ME LUNCH TODAY!"

Or maybe he was going to regret it _just _a little.

---

Ichigo's cell phone rang, as Rukia was in the shower.

He examined the number. His crazy dad was calling him!

Ichigo had admittedly almost forgotten about his family among all the other things that had happened.

He flipped the phone open.

"MY DEAR SON! Oh, I have missed you so. Are you doing fine wherever you are staying, my son?"

"I am, you stupid bastard. I'm alive."

"Ah, how you show your love for your father is so abstract! Would you come back to where you rightfully belong, in your home, son?"

Ichigo grinned.

"I'll think about it."

**end!**

yay and boo, the fic has ended! I'm so sorry about the delay, and I'm so grateful to every single one of you for all your support! heh.

with much thanks,

;redcheese.


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